Designed for use by vocational teachers, school administrators, and paraprofessionals, this handbook contains guidelines for conducting and evaluating programs to train and utilize paraprofessionals to help special needs vocational education students. It consists of four main sections. Section 1 describes such aspects of establishing a paraprofessional program as justification for a paraprofessional program, characteristics of special needs students, definitions of disadvantaged and handicapped, program funding, facilities and supplies, and selection of vocational paraprofessionals. Discussed next are paraprofessional personal and educational qualifications, experience, training, and certification. In an examination of the vocational paraprofessional at work the following topics are covered: job description, recognizing student needs, areas of learning, other responsibilities of the paraprofessional, recommended techniques of teaching, course structure, planning a teaching unit, relationship to the regular vocational teacher, responsibilities of the vocational teacher, public relations, and sheltered workshops. Also provided are evaluative criteria for paraprofessional programs and a course outline for vocational paraprofessionals. (MN)