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I have a voice in where I live, who lives with me, who assists me, and how my home life works.
My Home Life
August 2026 Monthly Training
My Home Life: Choice, Respect, and Feeling at Home
Home is more than a place to live. It is where I should feel comfortable, respected, included, and able to make choices about my everyday life.
Belong
My privacy, belongings, routines, visitors, food choices, culture, and personal space help make my home feel like mine.
Change
I can communicate what is working, what is not working, and what I want changed. People should listen and follow up.
My Home Life
A home should reflect the person who lives there
Home life includes choice, comfort, privacy, relationships, access, routines, belongings, and the ability to ask for changes. The person’s voice should guide everyday decisions and long-term planning.
Choose Where and With Whom I Live
Individuals need understandable information about living options and meaningful participation in decisions about location, housemates, roommates, and moves.
Direct My Everyday Routine
Daily schedules, meals, activities, rest, household responsibilities, visitors, and use of shared spaces should reflect the person’s preferences and assistance needs.
Have Privacy, Access, and Personal Space
People should be able to access their home, food, beverages, belongings, and private space, use keys when appropriate, secure personal property, and welcome chosen visitors.
Be Heard and Make Changes
Individuals can say what is working, identify concerns, express preferences about Supports and assistance, request changes, and expect clear follow-up.
Important
Assistance should increase the individual’s control—not replace it. Direct Support Professionals should ask, listen, observe communication in all forms, explain real options, and follow through. The convenience, routines, or habits of Supports should not be presented as the person’s choice.
August visual learning set
Four resources assist with the My Home Life lesson
Use the resources that match the individual’s communication, learning style, home setting, and current decisions.
My Home Life Steps
A simple sequence for expressing preferences, making choices, trying assistance strategies, and asking for changes.
My Choice, Talk Together, or Not Okay
Adult-focused home scenarios involving routines, visitors, food, privacy, belongings, housemates, and assistance from Supports.
My Home Preferences
Prompts for the people, routines, spaces, privacy, culture, food, and activities that make home feel right.
My Home Life Action Plan
A customizable worksheet for preferences, choices, assistance, next steps, and requested changes.
Section 1 of 6
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Prepare a respectful and practical learning experience
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Purpose of this training
This training helps individuals communicate what makes home feel right, recognize everyday choices, and practice asking for assistance or changes.
One connected goal
The person has a meaningful voice in home life and receives assistance that respects preferences, rights, communication, culture, and changing needs.
Before the session
- Choose a private, calm setting whenever possible.
- Have the individual’s preferred communication tools available and working.
- Ask whether the person wants the lesson read, shown, discussed, or practiced.
- Use adult-relevant examples from the person’s actual home life without speaking for them.
- Know who can receive and act on requests involving routines, Supports, housemates, services, or living arrangements.
- Explain that the person may pause, skip an example, disagree, or take a break.
Individual learning opportunities
During the session, the individual may:
Communicate something they like or want changed about home life.
Identify choices about where they live, who lives with them, or who assists them.
Describe preferences for routines, meals, activities, visitors, culture, or personal space.
Identify privacy, access, keys, belongings, food, or home areas that matter to them.
Practice asking for a change using their preferred communication method.
Identify who should help, what the next step is, and how follow-up will be communicated.
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Information for DSPs and Supports
Teach choice, listen for preferences, and follow through
Facilitation standard
Use adult, respectful language and the individual’s preferred communication method. Ask open questions, offer real choices, allow processing time, and accept speaking, pointing, gestures, demonstrations, pictures, signs, writing, behavior, or AAC. Do not lead the person toward a preferred answer or treat a house routine as more important than the person’s voice. The goal is to understand what the individual wants, what assistance is needed, and what follow-up must occur.
Core My Home Life content
- Whether the individual is happy and satisfied with their home and home-based Supports.
- Choice about living location, housemates or roommates, Supports, and possible living options.
- Control of daily schedules, meals, activities, rest, responsibilities, visitors, and household decisions.
- Privacy, personal space, keys, secure belongings, full access to the home, food, beverages, and shared areas.
- Respect for culture, identity, relationships, communication, décor, possessions, and routines.
- How to request changes and how moves, Provider changes, or Supports changes are addressed.
Individualize the lesson
- Ask one question at a time and allow the person to answer privately when preferred.
- Use photos, objects, calendars, menus, room layouts, visual choices, role-play, written options, or AAC.
- Offer real options. Do not offer a choice when only one answer will be accepted.
- Notice facial expression, movement, behavior, silence, avoidance, and changes in routine as possible communication.
- Separate individualized assistance needs from blanket house rules or the convenience of Supports.
- Document the person’s actual communication and the follow-up required—not an assumed level of satisfaction.
When a preference, concern, or change request is communicated
Listen, clarify, act, and follow up
Do not dismiss a request because it is inconvenient, unfamiliar, communicated nonverbally, or outside the DSP’s authority to approve. The DSP’s role is to understand the message, address what can be addressed now, and connect the person with the correct decision-maker for anything requiring additional planning.
- Listen: give time, reduce distractions, and use the person’s communication method.
- Clarify: confirm what the person wants without leading, correcting, or arguing.
- Act: assist with immediate reasonable choices and document requests that require further review.
- Follow up: tell the person what will happen next, who is responsible, and when they can expect an update.
Training boundary: this lesson assists with communication and person-centered action. It does not replace required Support Plan, Implementation Plan, service, rights, grievance, incident, or supervisory processes.
Verbal instruction
Use short explanations, open questions, pauses, and concrete adult examples. Avoid rapid-fire or leading questions.
Visual demonstration
Use the home-life steps, scenario cards, preference visual, change card, and action-plan worksheet.
Hands-on practice
Practice choosing a routine, arranging a space, planning a visitor, accessing belongings, or communicating a request.
Observation
Observe choices, communication, comfort, hesitation, prompts needed, changes in affect, and requests for follow-up.
Rights and dignity
Reinforce privacy, dignity, choice, access, personal property, relationships, communication, and control of everyday life.
After the lesson
Complete agreed actions, share requests through the appropriate process, and report back to the individual in an understandable way.
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Individual-facing lesson
Learn six My Home Life ideas
My home should feel like my home.
Step 1 · Belonging and satisfaction
I can say what I like and what I want changed
I deserve to feel comfortable, respected, included, and secure where I live.
“What do you like about your home? What would make it better?”
I have choices about where and with whom I live.
Step 2 · Living choices
I can learn about options and participate in decisions
I can have a voice in where I live and who shares my home.
“Who do you like living with? Is there another type of home you want to learn about?”
My routines should work for me.
Step 3 · Daily life
I can make choices about my schedule and household routines
I can help decide when I wake up, eat, rest, complete responsibilities, enjoy activities, and spend time with others.
“What part of your day would you like to choose or change?”
I have privacy, access, and personal space.
Step 4 · Home access and privacy
My room, belongings, food, visitors, and home spaces matter
I can communicate how I want privacy, how people enter my space, where I keep belongings, when visitors come, and how I use my home.
“What helps you have privacy? What places or belongings do you want to access on your own?”
The people who assist me should listen.
Step 5 · Preferences about Supports and assistance
I can say what assistance works for me
I can communicate which Supports approaches assist me, what does not work, and what I want people to know about assisting me at home.
“What should Supports do more of? What should Supports do differently?”
I can ask for a change.
Step 6 · My voice and follow-up
People should tell me what happens next
I can ask for a change in my routine, home, Supports, housemates, assistance, or personal space.
“What would you like changed? Who should help? When should they update you?”
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Guided practice
Practice meaningful home-life choices
The individual may complete one or more activities in any order. DSPs should model first, accept the person’s preferred communication, offer real choices, and avoid correcting a personal preference simply because it differs from the preferences of Supports.
Activity 1 · My home preferences
What makes home feel right for me?
People
Who do I want to live with, visit, call, or spend private time with?
Routine
When do I want to wake, eat, rest, complete responsibilities, and enjoy activities?
Space
How do I want my room, belongings, décor, privacy, keys, and shared spaces handled?
Assistance
What should Supports know, ask, explain, or do differently to assist me well?
Activity 2 · Scenario sorting
My choice, talk together, or not okay?
MY CHOICE
I choose how to decorate my personal space.
TALK TOGETHER
I want to change a shared household schedule that affects other people.
NOT OKAY
Supports enter my private space without asking when there is no immediate need.
MY CHOICE
I decide who I want to invite and how I want to spend time with them.
TALK TOGETHER
I want a different roommate, Supports approach, or living arrangement.
NOT OKAY
A house rule is used to stop me from accessing my belongings or speaking up.
Activity 3 · Understand decisions
Who should guide the decision?
My personal preference, such as décor, clothing, music, private time, or bedtime.My Choice
A shared decision, such as use of a common room, household responsibilities, or a group activity.Talk Together
An assistance responsibility, such as explaining options, providing communication access, documenting a request, or completing follow-up.DSP Action
DSPs should explain when a decision affects others without using shared living as a reason to remove all individual choice.
Activity 4 · Asking for change
Build a change pathway
1What I Want
Use words, pictures, gestures, AAC, behavior, examples, or a choice card.
2Who Can Help
DSP, supervisor, Provider, Waiver Support Coordinator, guardian, planning team, landlord, or another responsible person.
3Follow-Up
What happens next, who is responsible, and when I will receive an update.
Activity 5 · Everyday examples
What should the DSP do next?
The individual wants a different morning routine
Ask what they prefer, offer workable options, try the agreed change, and review how it went.
The individual wants a visitor
Ask what they want, assist with communication and planning, and address barriers through the appropriate process.
The individual says a Supports approach is not working
Listen without defensiveness, clarify the preference, document it, and notify the responsible person.
The individual wants more privacy or access
Identify the specific request, address what can change now, and follow up on anything requiring additional review.
Activity 6 · Home-life review
Check what matters to me
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Knowledge check
Choose or communicate a person-centered response
The individual may answer by speaking, pointing, gesturing, demonstrating, writing, selecting a picture, or using AAC. DSPs may simplify the number of choices without changing the home-life concept.
Daily routine
A DSP changes the person’s morning routine without asking because it is easier for Supports. What should happen?
Visitors and relationships
The individual says they want a friend or family member to visit. What is the best first response?
Access and everyday choice
The individual wants a snack or beverage from the kitchen. What should the DSP do?
Requesting change
The individual says they are unhappy with a roommate, Supports approach, or part of their home life. What should happen?
Put the lesson together
What helps a home reflect the person who lives there?
AskCreate regular opportunities for the person to communicate preferences and concerns.
ListenUse the person’s communication method and confirm the message without leading.
AssistanceOffer real choices and provide the assistance needed to carry out the person’s decision.
Follow UpComplete agreed actions and explain what will happen next.
Prompts for DSPs and Supports
“What do you like about your home?”
“What would you like to choose or change?”
“How do you want privacy, visitors, food, routines, and personal space handled?”
“What should Supports know about assisting you?”
“Who should help with the next step, and when should they update you?”
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Completion and documentation
Acknowledge participation, complete follow-up, and document what occurred
August My Home Life review complete
Acknowledge the individual’s communication, choices, questions, and effort. Reinforce that the person’s home life should reflect dignity, privacy, relationships, access, culture, everyday preferences, and meaningful participation in decisions.
Follow-up for DSPs and Supports
Complete immediate agreed changes, communicate requests through the appropriate process, identify who is responsible, and provide the individual with an understandable update. Do not let a request disappear because it requires action beyond the current shift.
Documentation standard
Record observable participation, preferred communication, choices and preferences expressed, examples discussed, prompts used, requested changes, actions completed, and follow-up needed. Do not document satisfaction, consent, or understanding that was not demonstrated.
Individual Training Documentation
Print the blank form and complete it using individualized, observable information from the session.
August My Home Life Visual-Aid Set
Print the home-life steps poster, scenario cards, preference visual, and home-life action plan.
Certificate of Completion
Create a personalized certificate for the individual and print it or save it as a PDF.
Formal planning and service documentation remain separate
This training form is a supplemental education record. It does not replace a Support Plan, Implementation Plan, service note, attendance record, progress note, rights review, grievance, incident report, housing document, or any other Provider obligation.
