The handbook provides guidelines for implementing the Massachusetts right to education law (Chapter 766) through the development of regional collaboratives to deliver educational services to low incidence handicapped and severely handicapped children. Chapter 1 includes instructions on the use of the handbook, reasons for considering collaboration, and explanations of the legal options, legal basis, and characteristics of collaboration. Considered in Chapter 2 are the advantages offered by collaboratives relating to administrative services and student programs, and considerations for joining a collaborative including assessing local situations and evaluating existing organizations. Chapter 3 contains a description of the four phases of planning and development: identifying where to begin, determining the collaborative's structure, developing program design, and developing a financial plan. Included in Chapter 4 are a five-part plan for needs assessment in the areas of number of students needing services, current service resources, transportation, funding resources, and general collaborative interest; and worksheets for program planning and evaluation. Provided in the appendixes are texts of Massachusetts laws and regulations pertinent to collaboration, case studies of seven collaboratives, and the titles, service areas, and names and addresses of contacts for 70 collaboratively run programs in Massachusetts, listed alphabetically by region. (IM)