This volume in NCSET's Essential Tools series summarizes current research about transition issues and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) youth with disabilities. It offers information on how transition personnel can effectively support these youth by building on their strengths and enhancing natural supports available within their families and communities. This tool offers several guiding principles. One is cultural competence, which means that services and supports are provided in ways that are appropriate and sensitive to the cultural nuances and expectations of youth and their families. Another guiding principle is natural supports. In contrast to formal supports provided by paid personnel, natural supports are provided by community members in the course of daily life. Natural supports may be provided by relatives, peers, community volunteers, clubs, religious organizations, etc. This Essential Tool also highlights the guiding principle of building on strengths in order to address challenges. This principle is an antidote to focusing on a person's deficits. This volume consists of parts that focus on cultural and other issues that may influence the transition process for CLD youth with disabilities. Each part also has individual "tools" that offer practical support and guidance for transition personnel. The tools either condense important information in a concise format or provide guidance for conducting key transition activities. Part I is titled "Essential Tool Overview," which introduces the volume and describes how it is organized. Part II, CLD Youth with Disabilities in Transition, includes an overview of the primary ethnic/racial groups in the United States with a focus on information related to disability and education. It also summarizes challenges that tend to be particularly significant for CLD youth with disabilities and briefly describes how transition personnel can help address these challenges. Part III, A Continuum of "Individualistic" and "Collectivistic" Values, explores the contrasts between "individualistic" values that tend to be held within the American mainstream and the "collectivistic" values that tend to be more common among CLD groups. An explanation follows of how the transition process and goals of youth with disabilities and their families may be shaped by their cultural values and how values may influence the concept of "self-determination." Part IV, The Culturally Sensitive Individualization of Services and Supports, explores the concept of cultural competence and how transition personnel can individualize services and supports through the use of proven strategies such as cultural reciprocity, person-centered planning, and resource mapping. Finally, this Essential Tool concludes with additional resources that provide more extensive information on relevant topics and are available on the Internet. This Essential Tool is designed to help answer the key questions for teachers, counselors, transition specialists, and other personnel involved in transition planning and services for CLD youth with disabilities. This topic is important because demographic trends project that the number of CLD students in the United States will increase from about one-third of total students currently to about one-half by 2040. A list of other resources available on the Internet is also included. (Contains 1 figure, 5 tables, and 2 footnotes.)