Vocabulary
Glossary
These are the words you need to be able to say out loud — in a planning meeting, on the phone with a service coordinator, in a courtroom. Each one links to where it is explained in full, and to the official source where one exists.
Terms
20 of 20 terms
- DDSDepartment of Developmental Services
The Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services — the state agency that determines eligibility for, and funds, supports for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Read more on this siteDepartment of Developmental Services (mass.gov)
See also: ISP, Service Coordinator, Chapter 688
- MassHealthMedicaid · MassHealth Medicaid
The Massachusetts Medicaid program. It pays for clinically-oriented day services such as Day Habilitation, which is why some day programs are billed to MassHealth rather than to DDS.
Read more on this siteMassHealth (mass.gov)
See also: Day Habilitation, PT-1
- ISPIndividual Support Plan · support plan
The Individual Support Plan — the DDS planning document describing a person's goals, services, and supports, developed with the person, their family or guardian, and the DDS team.
ISP development, review, and appeal are governed by 115 CMR 6.00. The plan is not a static form: you can ask for it to be reopened when circumstances change.
Read more on this site115 CMR 6.00 — eligibility, individual support planning, and appeals
See also: DDS, Service Coordinator, 115 CMR
- Service CoordinatorSC · DDS service coordinator
The DDS staff member assigned to help a person plan supports, coordinate services, and connect with resources. Usually your first call when something is not working.
- Day HabilitationDay Hab · DH
A MassHealth-funded day service with a clinical component — nursing oversight, therapies, and skill development — governed by 130 CMR 419.000.
Because Day Habilitation is a MassHealth service rather than a DDS service, its eligibility, documentation, and utilization review follow MassHealth rules, and its per-diem rates are set in the 101 CMR rate regulations.
Read more on this site130 CMR 419.000 — Day Habilitation Centers
See also: MassHealth, CBDS, PT-1
- CBDSCommunity-Based Day Supports
Community-Based Day Supports — a DDS-funded day service model centred on community participation, skill-building, and pathways toward employment.
See also: DDS, Day Habilitation, Supported Employment
- Supported Employmentemployment supports · individual supported employment
DDS-funded supports that help a person get and keep a job in the community, at prevailing wage, alongside coworkers without disabilities.
- PT-1Prescription for Transportation · HST · MART · GATRA
The MassHealth Prescription for Transportation request, submitted online by a member's provider, which arranges non-emergency rides to MassHealth-covered services such as Day Habilitation.
PT-1 requests are coordinated by the Human Service Transportation (HST) program, which assigns one of two regional brokers — MART or GATRA — depending on the member's city or town. DDS may separately fund transportation tied to a person's service plan.
Read more on this siteHuman Service Transportation Office (mass.gov)
See also: MassHealth, Day Habilitation
- Chapter 688Turning 22 · 688 referral · transition planning
The Massachusetts transition-planning law. A Chapter 688 referral is filed roughly two years before a student with disabilities leaves school services, so adult agencies can plan for what comes next.
A 688 referral is a planning trigger, not an entitlement to services. Adult eligibility — for example, DDS eligibility — is determined separately, which is the gap that catches families by surprise.
Read more on this siteChapter 688 transition planning (DESE)
- Guardianshipguardian of the person
A Probate and Family Court appointment giving one person legal authority to make certain personal decisions for an adult found to lack capacity for those decisions.
See also: Conservatorship, Rogers guardianship, Less-restrictive alternative
- Conservatorshipconservator · guardian of the estate
A Probate and Family Court appointment covering financial decisions and property, distinct from guardianship of the person.
See also: Guardianship, Less-restrictive alternative
- Rogers guardianshipRogers order · Rogers monitor · extraordinary treatment
A specific court authority, with its own hearing and periodic review, required before a guardian may consent to antipsychotic medication under a court-approved treatment plan.
Rogers authority is narrower than general guardianship and is reviewed on its own schedule. A guardian without a Rogers order cannot consent to antipsychotic medication.
See also: Guardianship, Less-restrictive alternative
- Less-restrictive alternativesupported decision-making · health care proxy · power of attorney
An arrangement that preserves a person's own legal decision-making — supported decision-making, a health care proxy, a power of attorney, a representative payee — considered before guardianship is sought.
See also: Guardianship, Conservatorship
- DPPC / CPPDDisabled Persons Protection Commission · Commission for the Protection of Persons With Disabilities · DPPC · CPPD
The Massachusetts commission that investigates abuse of adults with disabilities by caregivers. Its 24-hour hotline, 1-800-426-9009, is the reporting route for suspected abuse.
The commission's own site now uses the name Commission for the Protection of Persons With Disabilities (CPPD), while M.G.L. c.19C and most mass.gov pages still say Disabled Persons Protection Commission (DPPC). Both names refer to the same body; the hotline number is unchanged.
Read more on this siteCommission for the Protection of Persons With Disabilities
See also: Human Rights Committee, 115 CMR
- Human Rights CommitteeHRC
A committee each DDS provider must maintain to oversee individual rights, review restrictive practices, and receive complaints.
See also: DPPC / CPPD, 115 CMR, Positive Behavior Supports
- Positive Behavior SupportsPBS · behavior support plan
A rights-aware approach to behavior support that emphasises changing environments and teaching skills rather than applying consequences.
See also: ABA, Human Rights Committee
- ABAApplied Behavior Analysis
Applied Behavior Analysis — a methodology for changing behavior through systematic reinforcement, used in some adult day settings and subject to human-rights review when restrictive.
See also: Positive Behavior Supports, Human Rights Committee
- 115 CMRDDS regulations
The Code of Massachusetts Regulations series governing DDS: eligibility and ISPs (6.00), licensure and certification, human rights, and investigations.
Read more on this site115 CMR 6.00 — eligibility, individual support planning, and appeals
See also: DDS, ISP, Human Rights Committee
- 130 CMRMassHealth regulations
The Code of Massachusetts Regulations series governing MassHealth provider programs, including 130 CMR 419.000 for Day Habilitation centers.
See also: MassHealth, Day Habilitation
- 101 CMRrate regulations · EOHHS rates
The Code of Massachusetts Regulations series that sets the payment rates EOHHS pays providers, including the Day Habilitation per-diem grid.
See also: Day Habilitation, MassHealth