Direct support professional screening questions: state training, background studies and person-centered support

Direct support professional screening questions should test judgment and values as much as tasks. A DSP helps a person with an intellectual or developmental disability live the life they choose: at home, at work, in the community. The job includes personal care, medications and documentation, but the difference between a good and a poor DSP is whether they do things with the person or to the person, whether they follow the individual's support plan, and whether they report abuse, neglect and incidents the way the state requires. Screen for those, and for the practical gates (background study, training, driving, schedule) that decide whether they can start.

This page is for group homes, supported living, day programs, supported employment and in-home services funded through state developmental disability systems and Medicaid waivers. For older-adult home care, the caregiver screening questions and home health aide screening questions fit better; for applied behavior analysis roles, see the behavior technician screening questions.

Which DSP job

Training and background check rules: two state examples

The National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals offers a voluntary, tiered DSP certification. It is not a license; treat it as evidence of training and commitment, and ask the client whether it affects pay. Use a consumer reporting agency's background check only with the federal notice and authorization steps described in the FCRA background check guide; state-run background studies like Minnesota's follow the state's own process.

Knockout questions

Person-centered support questions

1. "Tell me about someone you supported. What mattered most to them?"
   • Strong answer: talks about the person's preferences, relationships and goals (without identifying them), not only their diagnosis or behaviors.
   • Red flags: describes the person only as a list of problems, or shares identifying details.
2. "A person you support wants to spend their money on something you think is a bad idea."
   • Strong answer: respects their right to choose, helps them think it through, follows the support plan and any guardianship or representative-payee arrangement, raises concerns with the team.
   • Red flags: "I wouldn't let them."
3. "How do you help someone with a task they could learn to do themselves?"
   • Strong answer: breaks it into steps, prompts the least needed, gives time, celebrates progress.
   • Red flags: does it for them because it is faster.
4. "A person you support starts shouting and throwing things at dinner."
   • Strong answer: keeps others safe, uses the de-escalation steps in the person's behavior support plan, gives space, looks for the cause, documents and reports per policy; uses physical intervention only if trained and allowed by the plan and state rules.
   • Red flags: threatens consequences or describes restraining someone without training.

Health, safety and reporting questions

• "Have you passed medications? What training did you have?" Strong: names the state or agency medication training and the checks they do (right person, medication, dose, time, route, documentation); calls the nurse about errors.
• "Someone you support has a seizure in the shower." Strong: protects from injury, turns off the water, times the seizure, follows the person's seizure protocol, calls 911 when the protocol says, documents.
• "You see a coworker push a resident." Strong: makes sure the person is safe, reports immediately under the agency's abuse and neglect reporting policy and state law, does not investigate on their own.
• "What goes in your shift notes?" Strong: facts, times, progress on goals, health observations, incidents, written before leaving.

Retention questions worth asking early

A new DSP who leaves in the first weeks has often found that the shifts were not what they expected. Ask questions that surface that mismatch before the offer, not after the first month.

• "What did you like least about your last DSP job?" Listen for things your program also has (overnights alone, driving, personal care, behavior support).
• "How do you handle a shift where a coworker calls out and you are asked to stay?" Strong: honest about limits, and knows the program's rules about leaving people without coverage.
• "What would make you stay in this job for two years?" Record the answer for the hiring manager.
• "Have you worked with a person whose way of communicating is not spoken words?" Strong: describes learning their signs, devices or patterns from the person and the team.

A 12-minute phone-screen flow

1. Minutes 0 to 2: setting, shift pattern, driving and pay.
2. Minutes 2 to 4: knockout questions 1 to 4. Ask the physical-task question the same way for everyone, as the ADA guide for interviews explains.
3. Minutes 4 to 9: two person-centered questions and the dinner-time scenario.
4. Minutes 9 to 11: the reporting question and one health and safety question.
5. Minute 11 onward: the candidate's questions and next steps.

How DSP experience gets overstated

• Caring for a family member presented as professional DSP work. It counts as experience, but ask about documentation and medication training.
• Training certificates from a previous employer that may not transfer. Ask the client which trainings it accepts.
• "Behavior specialist" titles held by DSPs. Ask who wrote the behavior plans.
• Overnight shifts that were "asleep" shifts. Ask whether they were awake and what checks they did.

Scoring

In the submittal, record availability by shift, driving status, trainings completed with dates (medication, CPR and first aid, state DSP training), settings worked and a one-line summary of the money-choice answer. Keep identifying details about people the candidate has supported out of your notes.