Idaho Disability Services Glossary — Every Term, Explained Simply

This page defines every term an Idaho family runs into when seeking disability services: ResHab, habilitation, DD waiver, DDA, DSP, QIDP, TSC, ICF/IID, certified family home, supported living, and more — in plain language, by a certified provider.

The terms

ResHab

Residential Habilitation. An Idaho Medicaid waiver service (funded under both the DD and Aged & Disabled waivers), delivered by DHW-certified agencies, providing trained staff who support adults with developmental or physical disabilities to live in their own homes or community settings instead of institutions.

Habilitation

Teaching skills a person has not yet acquired (vs. rehabilitation, which rebuilds skills lost to injury or illness). Habilitation is why ResHab staff teach, coach, and reinforce — not just assist.

DD waiver

Idaho's Home and Community Based Services waiver for people with developmental disabilities. It pays for residential habilitation, developmental therapy, respite, supported employment, and more, in community settings.

A&D waiver

The Aged and Disabled waiver — Idaho's HCBS waiver for adults 18–64 with physical or other disabilities and adults 65+ who need a nursing-facility level of care. Pays for residential habilitation, attendant care, homemaker services, respite, and more. Many EHS participants are on this waiver.

ADRC

Aging and Disability Resource Connection — the entry point for A&D waiver applications and assessments. Statewide line: 1-866-886-8876.

DDA

Developmental Disability Agency. An agency certified to provide developmental therapy and related center- or community-based services (distinct from a ResHab agency, which provides residential supports).

DSP

Direct Support Professional. The trained staff member who works directly with a participant in their home and community — the heart of the whole system.

QIDP

Qualified Intellectual Disability Professional. A degreed, experienced professional (like our co-founder Julie Virgin, MSW) responsible for assessment, plan development, and clinical oversight.

TSC

Targeted Service Coordinator. The coordinator assigned to a waiver participant who helps build the plan, connect services, and navigate the system.

ICF/IID

Intermediate Care Facility for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities. The institutional benchmark: waiver eligibility requires needing this level of support; the waiver then funds equivalent support in the community instead.

Certified family home

A home licensed by the state where an adult with a disability lives with a caregiver family, with agency and state oversight.

Supported living

Waiver-funded support delivered in the participant's own home — from a few hours a week up to intensive schedules. Also the term for residences serving up to three people with agency staffing.

High supports

An assessed support level: 24-hour staffing with one DSP serving up to three participants.

Intense supports

An assessed support level: 24-hour staffing with one DSP dedicated to a single participant.

SIS

Supports Intensity Scale — the assessment tool used to determine eligibility and the annual support budget.

Plan developer

The person who helps the participant and family write the annual support plan that defines services, hours, and goals.

My Voice, My Choice

Idaho's name for self-directed waiver services, where the participant/family employs their own staff with a support broker and fiscal agent.

Questions about any of these?

Call (208) 537-1463 or email info@empoweringhumanservices.com — we'd rather explain the system to you for free than have you lost in it. Also see the Start Here guide for how all these pieces connect.

Frequently asked questions