bttr Living Services and Rate Guide
Four ways bttr supports adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families: Supported Living Services, Independent Living Services, In Home Respite, and Tailored Day Services. Here is what each one includes and what it costs.
Every bttr Living service begins the same way: a comprehensive assessment of the individual's needs, safety considerations, routines, and goals. It produces the support plan and, for SLS, the recommended support level, aligned with the person's IPP and spending plan. The rate is the same no matter which service you start with.
Supported Living Services (SLS)
SLS provides ongoing, hands-on support so adults can live in their own home, on their own terms. It is not a program the person attends. It is support that comes to the person, in their own home and community, for as long as it is needed.
What Supported Living Services Includes
- Personal care, hygiene, dressing, and grooming
- Cooking, meal planning, and grocery shopping
- Cleaning, laundry, and household routines
- Support with social, behavioral, and daily living skills
- Medication reminders and medication support
- Scheduling and attending medical appointments
- Following seizure, feeding, and specialized health protocols
- Coordinating with doctors, nurses, and therapists
- Help finding, setting up, modifying, and keeping a home
- Managing the lease and talking with the landlord
- Budgeting, paying bills, and benefits support
- Shopping, errands, and household paperwork
- Transportation and travel training
- Social activities, hobbies, and community events
- Support connecting with work or day programs
- Building and keeping friendships and family ties
- Supervision matched to the person's safety needs
- Behavioral support plans and crisis prevention
- 24 hour emergency response and planning
- Overnight support when the plan calls for it
- Person-centered planning built around the person's goals
- Self-advocacy and decision-making support
- Regular check-ins with the circle of support
- Adjusting support as needs change over time
The Five Support Levels and Rates
Every rate below covers the same service. What changes is how much support the person needs to stay safe, healthy, and moving toward their goals, and whether one or two support professionals are required at a time. The assessment above determines the level.
- Community participation
- Budgeting
- Transportation
- Medication reminders
- Meal planning
- Social and employment support
- Assistance with ADLs
- Safety supervision
- Behavioral support
- Executive functioning support
- Medical appointment coordination
- Crisis prevention
- Complex medical care
- Elopement risk
- High behavioral needs
- Feeding and seizure support
- Mobility and transfer assistance
- 24/7 supervision needs
- High risk behavior
- Complex ADLs
- Community safety monitoring
- Aggression risk
- Intensive redirection
- Safety during outings or transitions
- Severe behaviors
- Two person transfers
- Elopement risk
- High intensity behavioral plans
- Complex medical and seizure support
- Stabilization support
What Each Level Looks Like in Real Life
Jordan is autistic and thrives on routine. He communicates in short phrases, can become overwhelmed in loud or crowded settings, and has a behavioral support plan for moments of high stress. He wants to keep his part time job and stay in the apartment he loves.
What his support looks like
- Daily cueing for hygiene, meals, and his schedule
- A support professional nearby during community outings for safety
- Practicing coping strategies from his behavioral plan
- Help coordinating medical and therapy appointments
If Jordan goes through a period of aggression or elopement risk, his team can recommend 2:1 Level 2 staffing for the parts of the day that need it.
Maya has cerebral palsy, uses a power wheelchair, and needs two people for every transfer between her bed, chair, and shower. She has a feeding support plan and a seizure protocol. She is sharp, social, and runs her own schedule. She just needs bodies and skill to make it happen safely.
What her support looks like
- Two person transfers throughout the day
- Personal care, positioning, and feeding support
- Seizure monitoring and protocol response
- Support getting to work, appointments, and social plans
During hours when Maya does not need transfers or intensive care, her plan can step down to single staff Level 3 to use her budget wisely.
Danny has Down syndrome and handles most of his personal care independently. He needs support during key parts of the day: medication oversight, help getting dinner on the table, and a hand with money so rent and bills get paid on time. His goal is a full life in his own place with a reliable safety net.
What his support looks like
- Support hours built around mornings, evenings, and errands, not constant staffing
- Medication oversight and support at routine health checkups
- Help with budgeting, bill payments, groceries, and preparing meals together
- Transportation support to work and social activities
If Danny needed assistance and supervision through most of the day, his assessment would place him at Level 2 instead.
These examples are illustrative composites, not real bttr Living participants.
Independent Living Services (ILS)
Where SLS provides ongoing support, ILS teaches. An ILS instructor works with the person in scheduled sessions, at home and in the community, to build the skills they need to live more independently. The goal is for the person to need less help over time.
What ILS looks like
One to one sessions built around the person's goals: learning to cook a week of meals, opening and managing a bank account, riding the bus to work, keeping an apartment clean, handling appointments and paperwork. Skills are practiced in real settings until the person owns them.
Skills are organized across bttr's six tracks
Common goals include
- Cooking, meal planning, and kitchen safety
- Budgeting, banking, and paying bills
- Personal care and household routines
- Riding transit and travel training
- Scheduling and attending appointments
- Communication, self-advocacy, and social skills
- Technology for daily life and safety
- Work readiness and employment goals
In Home Respite
Respite is for the family. A trained support professional provides safe, supervised care and engagement at home so parents and family members can rest, run errands, work, or simply take a breath, knowing their person is in good hands.
What respite looks like
Flexible, scheduled blocks of care built around the family's life: an evening out, a standing weekly break, coverage during a busy season. The support professional keeps the person safe, engaged, and comfortable in their own home.
Included in every respite shift
- Safe, attentive supervision at home
- Engagement, activities, and companionship
- Light meal prep and help with routines
- Short community outings when appropriate
- Flexible scheduling that follows the family's needs
- A brief note back to the family after each shift
Tailored Day Services (TDS)
TDS is an individualized alternative to a traditional day program. Instead of a facility and a fixed group schedule, the person builds a day around what they actually want to do, with 1:1 support in real community settings.
What TDS looks like
A person-centered weekly schedule: volunteering at the animal shelter on Mondays, a college class on Wednesdays, practicing the bus route to a future job, joining a rec league, exploring what kind of work feels right. The day belongs to the person, and the support professional makes it work.
A TDS schedule can include
- Person-centered daily schedules
- Vocational exploration and work readiness
- College navigation and study support
- Independent travel training
- Community access and social goals
- Volunteering and work experience
- Recreation, hobbies, and fitness
- Building natural supports in the community
Why Rates Are Set This Way
Rates are based on the individual's level of need, safety considerations, and the intensity of support required to achieve their goals.
Our support professionals are highly trained with CPR, First Aid, CPI, Autism and IDD training, and ongoing education to ensure safe and effective support.
Rates reflect documentation, care planning, compliance with Title 17, background checks, insurance, and administrative oversight.
SLS 2:1 rates reflect the cost of two qualified staff, increased liability, scheduling complexity, and the necessary level of supervision.
These rates are recommended for use with the Self Determination Program and may be adjusted based on individual needs, regional considerations, and approval by the Independent Facilitator and Financial Management Service (FMS). ILS is also available through traditional Regional Center services with RCEB.