(a) The New York State Education Department, hereinafter known as the agency, will complete an assessment for determining eligibility and vocational rehabilitation needs, if appropriate, and shall then provide information to each individual eligible for vocational rehabilitation services about the individual's options for developing an individualized plan for employment.

1. (1) The plan shall be developed by the individual with the assistance of a vocational rehabilitation counselor to the extent the individual determines. The plan shall be a written document using forms provided by the agency and must be agreed to and signed by the individual or, if appropriate, the individual's representative. It must also be approved and signed by a qualified vocational rehabilitation counselor employed by the agency. A copy of the plan and any amendments or revisions thereto shall be provided to the individual or, as appropriate, the individual's parent, guardian or other representative in the language or mode of communication appropriate.
2. (2) The plan shall be developed promptly after an individual is determined to be eligible for vocational rehabilitation services. To the extent possible, the employment outcome and the nature and scope of rehabilitation services must be determined based on the data used for the assessment of eligibility.

3. (3) If additional data are necessary, the agency shall conduct a comprehensive assessment of the unique strengths, resources, priorities, concerns, abilities, capabilities, interests, and needs, including the need for supported employment services, of an eligible individual, in the most integrated setting possible, consistent with the informed choice of the individual. The comprehensive assessment must be limited to information that is necessary to identify the rehabilitation needs of the individual and develop the individualized plan for employment and may, to the extent needed, include:

   1. (i) an analysis of the pertinent medical, psychiatric, psychological, neuropsychological, and other pertinent vocational, educational, cultural, social, recreational, and environmental factors that affect the employment and rehabilitation needs of the individual;
   2. (ii) an analysis of the individual's personality, career interests, interpersonal skills, intelligence and related functional capacities, educational achievements, work experience, vocational aptitudes, personal and social adjustments, and employment opportunities of the individual, and the medical, psychiatric, psychological, and other pertinent vocational, educational, cultural, social, recreational and environmental factors that affect the employment and rehabilitation needs of the individual;
   3. (iii) an appraisal of the individual's patterns of work behavior and services needed to acquire occupational skills and to develop work attitudes, work habits, work tolerance, and social and behavior patterns suitable for successful job performance including the use of work in real job situations to assess and develop the capacities of the individual to perform adequately in a work environment;
   4. (iv) a referral for the provision of rehabilitation technology services, to assess and develop the individual's capacities to perform in a work environment; and
   5. (v) an exploration of the individual's abilities, capabilities, and capacity to perform in work situations, which shall be assessed periodically during trial work experiences, including experiences in which the individual is provided appropriate supports and training.
4. (4) The program shall be designed to achieve an employment outcome that is consistent with the individual's unique strengths, priorities, concerns, abilities, capabilities, career interests and informed choice.
5. (5) The program for a student with a disability who is receiving special education services, shall consider the student's individualized education program and be coordinated with it in terms of the goals, objectives, and services identified.

(b) Process for developing the individualized plan for employment.

(c) Content of the individualized plan for employment shall include the following:

1. (1) the specific employment outcome established for the individual, including the projected timeframe for achieving it;
2. (2) the specific vocational rehabilitation services, the providers and the projected initiation and completion date of such services;
3. (3) a procedure and schedule for periodic review and evaluation of progress toward rehabilitation objectives based on objective criteria;
4. (4) for individuals with the most significant disabilities for whom a vocational goal in a supported employment setting has been determined to be appropriate, descriptions of the supported employment services to be provided and of the extended services needed and an identification of the source of extended services or, if identification is not possible, a statement explaining the basis for concluding that there is a reasonable expectation that services will become available;
5. (5) the individual's words describing how he or she was informed about and involved in choosing among alternative goals, objectives, services, providers and methods used to provide services;
6. (6) the terms and conditions for the provision of vocational rehabilitation services, including the responsibilities of the individual in implementing the program, the extent the individual's participation in the cost of services, the extent to which goods and services will be provided in the most integrated settings possible, consistent with the informed choice of the individual and the extent to which comparable services and benefits are available to the individual under any other programs;
7. (7) a statement assuring that the individual has been informed of the right and means of review of agency actions or decisions with which the individual is dissatisfied and of the availability of the client assistance program;
8. (8) the basis on which the individual has been determined to have achieved an employment outcome; and
9. (9) any plans for the provision of post-employment services after an employment outcome has been achieved, and the basis on which such plans are developed.

(e) If services are to be terminated under a program on the basis of a determination that the individual is not capable of achieving an employment outcome and is therefore no longer eligible, the following conditions shall apply:

1. (1) Such decision shall be made only with the full participation of such individual or, as appropriate, the individual's parent, guardian or other representative, except under any of the following circumstances:

   1. (i) a clear opportunity for such consultation was offered but refused;
   2. (ii) the individual is no longer present in New York State;
   3. (iii) the individual's whereabouts are unknown; or
   4. (iv) the individual's medical condition is rapidly progressive or terminal.
2. (2) When the full participation of the individual or the individual's representative has been secured in making such decision, such person's views concerning the decision shall be recorded in the program.
3. (3) The agency shall record an amendment to the program indicating that the individual is not capable of achieving an employment outcome.

4. (4) There shall be a periodic review, at least annually if requested by the individual, of the ineligibility decision, in which the individual will be afforded clear opportunity for full consultation in the reconsideration of such decision, except in situations in which a periodic review is precluded for any of the following reasons:

   1. (i) the individual has refused services;
   2. (ii) the individual has refused the review;
   3. (iii) the individual is no longer present in New York State;
   4. (iv) the individual's whereabouts are unknown; or
   5. (v) the individual's medical condition is rapidly progressive or terminal.