A guide to help physicians identify handicapping conditions in young children and to refer the children to educational and habilitative services at an early age is presented. The first section describes the rationale for early intervention and includes current research that supports and documents the benefits of infant and preschool special education. The second section, on identification and screening, covers medical and developmental screening, legal and medical definitions of handicapping conditions, at risk factors, and screening instruments. For 23 screening instruments, information is provided on publisher, author, purpose, administration time, age range, test items, scoring, standardization, reliability, and validity. Procedures for conducting auditory and visual screenings are also outlined. The final section provides a description of programs and resources that are available in New York State for handicapped infants, preschoolers, and their families. These include Early Childhood Direction Centers, Committees on the Handicapped, family court petitioning, deaf infant programss, state operated and state supported schools, Head Start, and Special Education Training and Resource Centers (SETRCs). Appended materials include the following: brief annotations for 13 publications available through New York State, 90 references, the text of New York State regulations concerning handicapped children, and lists of Early Childhood Direction Centers and SETRCs with mailing addresses and telephone numbers. (SEW)