This manual, developed from an Early Childhood Institute on the Assessment of Young Children conducted in 1981, acquaints education and counseling professionals with a variety of assessment instruments for young handicapped children and assists them in understanding how to adapt instruments to a child's unique disability. Information to facilitate the active involvement of the parents in assessment, and guidance for written presentation of assessment data are provided. The first section focuses on the assessment process, providing specific indicators of potential problems in young children, parental involvement and parent interview guidelines, and a format for writing evaluation reports. Section Two is an annotated listing of 74 selected assessment instruments from the fields of psychology, early childhood and special education, speech and language pathology, and occupational and physical therapy. Listings of 21 parent assessment instruments, selected resources for further information and technical assistance, and resources developed by less-well-known federally funded projects are provided in the last two sections. (CM)