How to Keep a Daily Support Diary for Your I-CAN v6 Assessment

The most powerful preparation tool — and how to use it

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute professional disability support advice.

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If there is one preparation activity that consistently makes the biggest difference to I-CAN v6 assessment outcomes, it is keeping a daily diary.

Here is why. The assessment itself is a 60 to 90-minute conversation with someone you have never met. You will be asked to describe how your disability affects your daily life. Under the pressure of that conversation, in an unfamiliar setting, it is almost universal to understate — to describe your best days rather than your typical ones, to forget specific incidents that would illustrate your genuine support needs, to say "sometimes it's difficult" when the truth is "four days out of seven I cannot manage this without help."

A daily diary solves this problem. Four weeks of specific, honest daily notes creates a body of evidence that reflects your real daily experience — not your best performance in an assessment room.

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What to Record Each Day

You do not need to write in paragraphs. Brief, specific notes in response to a few consistent questions is all that is needed. Try these prompts each evening:

1. Self Care Did you manage personal care independently today? If you needed help — what kind, how much, how long did it take? Did anything not happen (shower skipped, meals missed, medication not taken)?

2. Domestic Life What household tasks happened and what didn't? Did you cook? Clean? Shop? What required help, and what was not possible?

3. Mobility Did you leave the house? How far did you get? What limited you — pain, fatigue, lack of transport, anxiety? What required assistance?

4. Community, Social & Civic Life Did you access community activities, appointments, social events? What got in the way of participation? What required support to happen at all?

5. General Tasks and Demands Did you manage your routine today? Medications on time? Appointments? What required prompting, help, or didn't happen?

6. Mental & Emotional Health and Physical Health On a scale of 1–10, how was your energy? Pain? Mood? What were you unable to do because of these?

7. What needed support today? A brief note on any assistance received from support workers, family, or carers — what they did and why.

8. What didn't happen? This is often the most important field. What would have happened if support was not available? What did not get done today, and why?

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What a Useful Entry Looks Like

Vague entry (less useful): "Had a hard day today. Not feeling well. Couldn't do much."

Specific entry (much more useful): "Monday. High fatigue day — rated 8/10 severity. Took three hours to get out of bed after waking. Support worker arrived at 10am and helped with shower and dressing (took 40 mins total). No breakfast until lunch. Could not prepare any meals — ate crackers. Did not leave the house. Medications taken but late (2pm instead of 8am). No household tasks completed. Support worker returned at 4pm to help with dinner preparation. Could not manage evening personal care — went to bed without showering again."

The specific entry tells a clear story. It gives dates. It gives frequency context (if this is day three of a similar pattern). It describes what support was needed and what still did not happen even with support. It tells the assessor something real about daily life.

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Capturing Good Days, Bad Days, and Everything Between

One of the most valuable functions of a diary is documenting your range — not just your average.

For many conditions — MS, mental health conditions, epilepsy, fatigue disorders — functioning varies significantly. A good day may look almost unimpaired. A bad day may be completely incapacitating. The assessment needs to understand both ends of this range, and how often each occurs.

Rate each day simply: A simple system — "Good / Moderate / Difficult" or 1–10 — at the top of each entry allows you to quickly see patterns. How many difficult days in the last four weeks? What proportion of moderate days? What triggered difficult periods?

Note what good days look like: A good day for someone with MS might still mean significant limitations — it is just the best end of their realistic range. Documenting good days prevents the assessor from assuming your range is wider than it is.

Note what difficult days look like: Be specific. What happened? What couldn't happen? How long did recovery take?

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Practical Approaches: Making It Sustainable

Use your phone. A brief voice memo at the end of the day is faster than writing for many people. Apps like Apple Notes, Google Keep, or a simple voice recorder work well. You can transcribe entries weekly if you prefer.

Keep the prompts visible. A sticky note on the bathroom mirror or a phone reminder with the six key questions helps you remember without thinking about it.

Set a consistent time. Evening tends to work best — before bed, when the day is fresh. A consistent time builds habit quickly.

Accept that some days will be missed. A diary with some gaps is still useful. If you miss a few days, don't abandon the whole project — just resume.

For carers keeping the diary: A brief daily observation note ("today [participant] needed full assistance with showering, could not initiate dressing independently, had one episode of distress lasting approximately 45 minutes when routine changed at lunchtime") is entirely appropriate and valid.

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From Diary to Preparation Document

After four weeks, your diary becomes the raw material for your I-CAN v6 preparation document.

For each of the 12 domains in ICANReady, you can draw on specific diary entries:

Instead of: "I often struggle with personal care."

You can write: "In September, I required support worker assistance for showering on 18 of 28 days. On days when a support worker was not available, I typically did not shower. On three occasions, I missed two or more consecutive days of personal care."

This is specific, dated, and credible. It tells the assessor exactly what your support needs are — without relying on uncertain recollection under assessment pressure.

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How Long Before Your Assessment to Start

Ideal: Start now, regardless of when your assessment is scheduled. A diary you start today will be relevant for any assessment in the next 12 months.

Minimum: Four weeks before your assessment. This captures a realistic range.

If you have less time: Start anyway. Even two weeks of specific daily notes is more useful than arriving at an assessment with only your general recollection.

If your assessment is months away: Start now and keep the diary consistently. You will have a rich, detailed picture by the time your assessment arrives — and you will not be scrambling to recall examples under pressure.

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ICANReady is designed to work with your diary. As you work through each domain, your diary entries are the specific examples that make your preparation document accurate, credible, and compelling.

Try ICANReady free →

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For guidance on what the I-CAN v6 assessment involves, see: What is the NDIS I-CAN v6 Assessment?. For step-by-step preparation, see: How to Prepare for Your I-CAN v6 Assessment.