Nine Days Until the Annual Review

Deficiencies

• The statement "will participate in community-based instruction and will develop vocational skills" is a service description, not a measurable postsecondary goal. It names no outcome, no setting, no timeline.
• Missing: age-appropriate transition assessments (interest inventories administered with accommodations, situational vocational assessments at the pet store, adaptive behavior and daily-living measures, parent and student interviews).
• Missing: goals in the required domains - education/training, employment, and (where appropriate) independent living - each measurable, based on age-appropriate assessment, and tied to annual IEP goals and transition services.
• Missing: transition services and course of study aligned to the goal, and identification of outside agencies (vocational rehabilitation, developmental disability services, benefits planning) with referral responsibilities assigned.

What replaces the statement

• Employment: "After high school, Mai will work part-time (15–20 hours per week) in an animal care setting - e.g., kennel assistant or pet store associate - with initial job-coaching support."
• Education/training: "After high school, Mai will participate in a community-based animal care certificate program or agency-supported on-the-job training."
• Independent living: e.g., travel training to and from work, money handling, self-advocacy in the workplace.
• Then: annual IEP goals and services that lead to those outcomes, with the pet store placement explicitly connected to the employment goal.

Note the coordinator's error: postsecondary goals are required by age 16 in most states and must be in the IEP in effect when the student turns 16 (some states earlier). Waiting until 18 forfeits two years of planning.

Before the meeting

• Offer at least three concrete meeting times, including an evening or early-morning slot, and honor the parents' work schedule; offer phone or video participation and a pre-meeting phone call to walk through the draft.
• Arrange a qualified Vietnamese interpreter - not a bilingual aide pulled in as a favor, and not Mai interpreting for her parents - and confirm arrival time. Provide translated copies of the draft IEP and procedural safeguards in advance.
• Document every attempt (dates, times, methods, languages) in the file. This protects the district and, more importantly, gives the parents a real chance to participate.

During the meeting

• Speak to the parents, not the interpreter; pause for interpretation; avoid jargon.
• Ask directly about the family's vision and about home/community expectations - including any cultural framing of employment, independence, and family involvement. Do not assume a preference for sheltered work or for a particular living arrangement; ask.
• Confirm understanding with a clarifying loop rather than "Do you have questions?"

Procedural points

• If the parents cannot attend, the team may proceed only after documented repeated attempts, and must keep them informed; if they attend by phone, record their input verbatim.
• The interpreter delay at the prior meeting should be noted as a barrier and fixed, not repeated; the record should reflect that the parents' participation was actively supported.

Judgment point: "They don't come" is not a conclusion about the family. Two missed meetings at 2:00 p.m. in English with a late interpreter is a design problem.

Mai's participation now

• She should be at the meeting, invited in a way that matches her communication profile (pre-teaching the agenda, picture supports, a script or visual choices, time to respond, a preferred staff member present).
• Gather her preferences through person-centered methods: choice-making inventories, picture-based interest surveys, visits to work sites, and structured interviews with familiar adults. Her stated wish to work with animals is real assessment data and should drive the employment goal.
• Build self-advocacy and self-determination skills as IEP goals or embedded instruction: requesting help, disclosing needs appropriately, negotiating a schedule, asking for a break, understanding her own accommodations.

Transfer of rights

• In most states, rights transfer at the age of majority (18), and the IEP must include a statement that the student has been informed of this at least one year before turning 18 - so this must be addressed by the IEP in effect when she turns 17, i.e., during this planning cycle, not later.
• If the family is considering supported decision-making or guardianship alternatives, the team should share information neutrally and refer to the appropriate agency; guardianship is a court decision, not an IEP team decision.

Agency linkages to start now

• Referral to vocational rehabilitation and adult developmental disability services well before exit, with a named person responsible, so eligibility and waitlists are resolved while Mai is still in school.

Bottom line: the transition plan is only as good as the assessments behind it, the family's real participation in it, and Mai's ability to state and pursue what she wants. All three are currently absent.