The paper describes and evaluates the use of computer instruction with three student populations: severely handicapped, severely emotionally handicapped, and learning handicapped. In the first instance, instruction was aimed at helping severely handicapped students operate software as independently as possible. Important steps in the instructional process are noted, including the use of practice "on line" time and teacher supervision. Teacher inservice time is needed to master the operations. Instruction of learning and emotionally handicapped students used language arts software and focused on teaching students to use the features of the Bank Street word processor. Among benefits noted are increased creativity and improved quality of writing. A list of skills, strategies, and software options to instruct students in basic computer operation concludes the paper. (CL)