Direct support professional training in the District of Columbia is governed by the Department on Disability Services (DDS), whose Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) sets binding training standards for every provider, vendor, and consultant serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the DDA service delivery system — whether funded by DDS or the Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF). The operative document is the DDS Training Procedure (2019-DDA-PROC-01, effective March 8, 2019), which implements the Provider Staff Training Policy and cross-references the HCBS waiver regulations for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities at 29 DCMR § 1900 et seq. It applies to all staff in direct support roles — not only those with the DSP job title.

Pre-service training is Phase I, a nine-module orientation that every new hire in a direct support role must complete before working independently with people who receive DDA supports: Introduction to Developmental Disabilities; Health and Wellness; Adaptive Equipment; Introduction to Human Rights; Universal Precautions and General Safety Guidelines; Incident Management; A Blueprint for Service; Making Friends and Building Relationships; and Quality of Life. The Incident Management and Quality of Life modules carry a competency test with an 80% passing score. Phase I is deliberately portable: a DSP who changes employers does not repeat it unless they have had a break in service — six months to two years triggers refresher modules in Incident Management and Introduction to Human Rights (again at 80% proficiency), and a break of two years or more requires retaking all nine modules. A Blueprint for Service must be completed at each new job if not previously taken.

Phase II is what makes the District's system distinctive: person-centered, person-specific training that each staff member must complete before working alone with each individual they support, and again whenever the person's Individual Support Plan (ISP) or Behavior Support Plan (BSP) changes. Content is drawn from the person's actual plans — Health Care Management Plan, Health Passport, ISP, BSP, Personal Emergency Preparedness Plan, seizure protocols, transfer and mobility procedures, specialized dining, medications and side effects — and must be delivered by a live qualified trainer (a clinician, QIDP, registered nurse, or an experienced family member). Records must show competency verification tied to the specific person supported; DDS reviews this documentation closely.

Phase III is the annual certification and renewal layer, required before independent work and then within every twelve-month period with no gaps: CPR (via in-person class) and First Aid; universal precautions and infection control meeting OSHA requirements (bloodborne pathogens under 29 CFR 1910.1030), plus additional OSHA hazardous-chemical training for staff who may be exposed; an approved behavioral intervention curriculum (Mandt, CPI, or Positive Behavior Strategies) where applicable; emergency preparedness including fire safety; HIPAA and confidentiality; medication administration (TME certification) where applicable; the DDS Adaptive Equipment Maintenance Protocol; and recognition and mandatory reporting of abuse, neglect, exploitation, and serious physical injury. Phase IV adds 10 hours of professional development or continuing education annually for all staff in direct support roles — and the procedure is explicit that Phase I–III training cannot be double-counted toward the Phase IV hours. On medication specifically: in the District, unlicensed staff may administer medications only as a Trained Medication Employee (TME) certified by the DC Board of Nursing, with recertification every two years.

Delivery in DC is a hybrid of provider-delivered and DDS-controlled elements — and knowing which is which is most of the compliance battle. Phase I may be delivered live by an approved provider trainer using the DDS curriculum, through the University of the District of Columbia's DSP workforce course, or through an online course that meets the minimum requirements of the DDS online Phase I curriculum. Phase II must be live and person-specific. Phase III and Phase IV may use online courses, but a provider must request and receive approval from the DDS Human Capital Administrator before administering an online course to staff. All of it is audited: the annual Provider Certification Review (PCR) — the mechanism by which DDS determines each year whether a provider remains qualified to deliver its enrolled HCBS waiver services — includes staff record reviews, and providers scoring less than satisfactory can lose the ability to bill the affected service. Staff must also clear a criminal background check under D.C. Code § 44-551 et seq. before direct access to the people served.

The District is Training and eTracking Solutions' home market, and TeTS delivers DC DDS phase training online — courses built module-for-module to the DDS Phase I curriculum, Phase III annual topics including OSHA bloodborne pathogens and hazard communication, and Phase IV professional development hours, with the completion records, test scores, and per-staff training histories organized the way PCR reviewers ask for them. Because DDS requires provider-level approval of online Phase III and IV courses, TeTS supports providers through that submission, and its tracking tools also document the live pieces the platform doesn't replace — Phase II person-specific training and in-person CPR — so the whole four-phase record for every staff member lives in one audit-ready system.