The purpose of this manual is to serve as a guide for the professional supervisor of the Scales of Functional Independence of the Balthazar Scales of Adaptive Behavior (BSAB-I). The BSAB-I is based upon intensive and extensive observations of the eating, dressing, and toileting behaviors of the ambulant severely and profoundly mentally retarded, and may be applied to institutional day care settings and to individuals in clinical centers in the community. Included in this handbook are sections on the limitations and development of BSAB-I. Descriptions are provided for the Eating, Dressing, and Toileting Scales, including their design, necessary materials, and procedure. Other sections are devoted to the use of BSAB in programming (use of program staffing committees; pre-base-line, base-line, and retest studies; use of control groups; supplementary equipment; documentation and records; and coding systems), graphic study of the data (variable and fixed profile patterns, grouping the subjects, program examples), program evaluation (pretesting effects, evaluation of alternative experimental programs, limitations of experimental procedures and safeguards, definition of adaptive behavior reliability), and performance tables. (JS)