The increased emphasis on having individual developmental disabilities diagnosed by interdisciplinary teams of professionals has raised complex problems involving time and expense in evaluating a child in his home situation. The John F. Kennedy Child Development Center has a plan to avoid moving professionals to observe a child or to having a child's family move to an interdisciplinary evaluation center. The plan is based on the use of videotape recording (VTR) in the child's own home situation. It causes little inconvenience to the family, is more unobtrusive than a group of observers, and makes it possible for a team of specialists miles away to observe directly the dynamics of the family and the behavior of the child. These standard samples of a child's behavioral repertoire can accompany regular written protocols and can record the administration of developmental tests. Evaluation and diagnostic sessions can involve the professionals at the center, the VTR, and professionals in the child's locale, who can participate by means of a long-distance amplified telephone. The training impact of a university-affiliated center's operation would therefore be extended. (MH)