In-school service predictors of employment for individuals with intellectual disability.

Park et al. (2018) looked at school records for 220 young adults with intellectual disability. They counted how many transition services each student got while in high school.

The team then called the families to see if the young adult now had a paid job. They used stats to link service hours to later employment.

More in-school services meant better odds of having a job after graduation. Students in the top service group were nearly three times as likely to be employed.

The boost held even after the researchers controlled for IQ, race, and family income.

Crossman et al. (2018) extends this picture. Their interviews show parents and youth co-write transition goals. The numbers from Jiyoon say "get services"; the stories from K explain "make the services fit the teen’s own plan."

Collin et al. (2013) used the same records-mining trick with autistic students. They found IEP quality, not service hours, predicted goal mastery. The two studies seem to clash, but they looked at different things: Jiyoon counted hours; Lisa scored IEP writing. Both can be true—good plans plus enough hours matter.

Llanes et al. (2020) add a warning: teacher conflict can undo the good. Even packed services won’t help if the student feels picked on at school.

You can’t control the job market, but you can control the IEP. Ask for more vocational-rehab hours, work-study slots, and community job try-outs. Track the minutes like medical dosage—Jiyoon shows each extra hour raises the chance of a paycheck. Pair the hours with student-led goals (the K takeaway) and keep teacher conflict low (the Elizabeth takeaway). Do this and your graduates leave with diplomas and payroll stubs.