Direct Support Professional Training

Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) are employed at more than 480 Community Care Facilities throughout California, under the direction of four Service Hubs to provide direct care to individuals (adults and minors) with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Direct Support Professional Training (DSPT) is provided through 4 regional Service Hubs within local communities. DSPT is free to all direct support professional staff currently working in either the first or second year of their employment at one of the regional center vendored community care facilities.

DSPs are required to complete two training sessions over a two-year period and complete skill checks and a written test based on core competencies and skills necessary to provide the appropriate level of care. Topics include:

• The California developmental disabilities service system

• The Individual Program Plan

• Maintaining the best possible health

• Environmental safety

• Dental health

• Medication management

• Nutrition and exercise

San Bernardino County ROP, under contract with the Department of Developmental Services, provides and manages the DSP Training (DSPT) management system which DSP students access to enroll in classes. The system houses training schedules, enrollment, attendance, and student records including test results. The ROP DSP team provides support for the hubs, trainers and proctors and the DSP professionals. The team prepares and distributes lesson and testing materials to the instructors and collects and scores the test documents after each class. They also provide technical support and assistance to DSPs accessing the management platform.

From July 2020 to May 2021, the team has answered and supported 5730 phone calls from DSPs.

Prior to 2020, all trainings were held in-person. With the advent of Covid, those trainings could not be held. Working with the CDE and Department of Rehabilitation, the ROP team facilitated the development of a virtual training and testing option and trained the trainers on how to administer the online testing.

From October 2020 to June 2021, 332 classes have been conducted or scheduled. Virtual classes and tests now account for 63% of all trainings.