Strengths
Assessment
Identifying, Developing and Using My Strengths
An Indiana Division of Disability and Rehabilitative Services and Bureau of Developmental Disabilities Services Innovation Pilot Project
This resource contains the following tools:
Identifying your Strengths
Developing your Strengths
Overcoming Barriers
This resource includes
5 different ways to find your strengths!
Choose one or two ways that work for you to find your strengths!
1) Take an online VIA Survey
2) Help a person who knows you well complete the ASpECT-DD assessment
3) Review a list of strengths to see which ones you have
4) Ask someone who knows you well to talk through an unusual event to find your strengths
5) Ask someone who knows you well to think about you and help you identify your strengths
#1: Take an online VIA Survey
The survey includes a report of your 5 top strengths. It is pre-paid, so you do not need to put in payment information.
If you are asked for payment information please call Spencer Booth at (260) 417 4885 to be sent a link to take the assessment for free*
*This assessment is free for 40 people during the Finding and Utilizing Strengths IPP project. After the completion of the project the cost of the assessment is listed on the VIA website. In 2024 it was $20.
#2: Help a person who knows you well complete the ASpECT-DD assessment
If you’d like to use the ASpECT DD you can ask a person who knows you well to fill out the assessment. A good way to do this would be for the two of you to go through it together, thinking about how each question applies to you.
After you are finished you can score the assessment and see which strengths you may have!
#3: Review a list of strengths to see which ones you have
It might be helpful to review a list of strengths to see if one of them is a strength of yours that you’d like to use and develop. If you’d like, read through these and see if any describe you.
#4: Ask someone who knows you well to talk through an unusual event to find your strengths
Think about a time when something unusual happened to you. This could be a positive or negative experience, but it should be something that was out of the ordinary. Talk to someone you trust about the experience. What happened? How did you feel? What did you do? Identify the strengths that you used to cope with the situation. What skills, abilities, or personal qualities helped you to get through it? Were you patient? Did you help other people? Did you talk to someone and ask for help? Did you think of a way to solve a problem? The way you reacted to the situation may show a strength that you have. Write down any strengths that you came up with during this exercise.
#5: Ask someone who knows you well to think about you and help you identify your strengths
Ask someone who knows you well to think about your strengths and specific examples when you used these strengths. This will help you to understand and appreciate your strengths more fully.
Strengths Project:
Using and Developing
My Strengths
Now it is time to…
1)Pick one or two of your strengths
2)Make a plan
3)Start taking steps
4)Check your progress and make changes if needed
Overcoming Barriers
Are you running into challenges with developing your strengths? Is it not going as well as you’d hoped? Try some of these strategies for overcoming barriers.