Connecticut Core Transition Skills Resource Chart Explained

What the Core Transition Skills Are

Connecticut's Core Transition Skills are a standardized set of competencies developed by the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) that form the foundation for all transition planning in the state. They span four broad domains — self-advocacy, independent living, community participation, and vocational exploration — and provide the specific skill targets that Postsecondary Outcome Goal Statements (PSOGS) in the IEP should be built around.

The CT CORE Transition Skills Resource Chart is the practical tool that translates these competencies into usable activities. It's not a checklist to be completed — it's a reference document that PPT members, families, and students use during IEP development to select specific activities that target the skills most relevant to each student's transition plan.

Think of it this way: the PSOGS define where your child is going after high school. The Core Transition Skills define the specific abilities they need to get there. The Resource Chart provides the activities and strategies to build those abilities during the school years.

How the Resource Chart Connects to the IEP

When the Planning and Placement Team (PPT) drafts or updates the transition section of the IEP, they should be using the Resource Chart as a reference. Here's the connection in practice:

1. Transition assessments identify the student's current strengths and areas of need across the core skill domains
2. The PPT selects the specific core skills that are priorities for the current IEP year
3. The Resource Chart provides activities and instructional strategies mapped to each selected skill
4. These activities are written into the IEP as transition services and annual goals

This system is embedded in CT-SEDS (Connecticut's Special Education Data System), which structures the IEP so that Present Levels of Performance link directly to specific goal areas. The Core Transition Skills provide the vocabulary and framework that makes those links concrete rather than generic.

Key Skill Areas Families Should Understand

While the full Resource Chart covers dozens of specific competencies, several skill areas are particularly important for families to understand because they directly affect the transition from school to adult life:

Disability disclosure and self-advocacy. This skill area focuses on the student's ability to explain their disability, identify their accommodation needs, and request support in educational, employment, and community settings. It's foundational for everything that follows — college accommodations, workplace adjustments, agency interactions — because in the adult world, no one will advocate for the student unless the student speaks up first.

Healthcare navigation. Students need to understand their medical conditions, manage their own medications and appointments, and communicate with healthcare providers. For students transitioning off parent health insurance or onto Medicaid (HUSKY C), this skill area becomes critical around age 18.

Financial management. Understanding income, budgeting, banking, and — critically for students receiving SSI — asset limits. The resource limit for SSI is $2,000 per individual. A student who doesn't understand this threshold could accidentally disqualify themselves from benefits by accepting gifts, accumulating savings in a standard bank account, or not sheltering money in an ABLE CT account.

Community participation and mobility. Getting around independently — using public transit, navigating ride services, reading maps, managing routes, and handling unexpected changes. For students in suburban Connecticut where public transit options are limited, this skill area requires creative solutions like travel training with paratransit services or practice with transportation apps.

Employment skills. Not just job-specific technical skills, but workplace behaviors: punctuality, following multi-step instructions, interacting with supervisors and coworkers, understanding workplace culture, and knowing when and how to request accommodations.

How to Use the Resource Chart at Home

The Resource Chart isn't designed exclusively for classroom use. Families can use it to reinforce transition skills in daily life:

Match home activities to skill targets. If the IEP targets financial management, involve your child in household budgeting, grocery shopping with a set budget, or managing a small personal fund. If community navigation is a target, practice bus routes, walking directions, or GPS navigation during regular outings rather than always driving them directly.

Review the chart before PPT meetings. Look at which skill areas are being targeted in the current IEP and assess your child's progress from the home perspective. The school sees your child in one context — you see them in another. Your observations about how they handle money, navigate the community, manage self-care, and communicate their needs at home are valid data points for the PPT.

Identify gaps between school focus and home experience. Schools tend to prioritize skills that are measurable in classroom settings — task completion, schedule following, basic social interaction. The skills that are harder to practice in school but essential for independence — grocery shopping, laundry, cooking, healthcare appointment management, public transit use — often get less attention. If you see gaps, raise them at the PPT and propose adding specific Core Transition Skill activities to the IEP.

The Resource Chart and Transition Assessments

Connecticut requires ongoing, age-appropriate transition assessments throughout the transition years. The Core Transition Skills provide the framework for interpreting assessment results and translating them into IEP goals. Common assessment tools used in Connecticut include the AIR Self-Determination Assessment, the ARC Self-Determination Scale, and various vocational interest and aptitude inventories.

When reviewing assessment results, ask the PPT: which Core Transition Skills do these results indicate as priorities? And how will those priorities be reflected in the transition services written into the IEP?

The Connecticut IEP Transition to Adulthood Guide maps Core Transition Skills to each phase of the age-14-to-exit timeline, showing which skills are typically prioritized at each age and how they connect to the agency handoffs that begin at 16.

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