The University of Minnesota Research, Development, and Demonstration Center in Education of Handicapped Children focuses on intervention strategies and materials to develop and improve communication skills of handicapped children from birth to 9 years of age. Center objectives include identification from longitudinal data of school children with inadequate communication skills. The Center's research is conducted under Program I, concerned with development and evaluation of early communication systems for handicapped children, and under Program II, concerned with improvement of handicapped children's performance through training in language skills (kindergarten and early elementary grades). Program I projects center on communication skill in Down's Syndrome children, evaluation of preschool programs to develop communication skills in deaf children, morphological development of deaf children with deaf parents, receptive language development of deaf children using rebus and sign language, identification of children with potential communication handicaps, and verbal/nonverbal help-seeking behavior in mentally retarded (MR) children. Program II projects encompass verbal elaboration and word recognition comprehension skills of young MR children, and vocabulary development improvement in reading through self instruction and efficient information processing. The Center functions as a university component guided by a director, research and policy committees who oversee facilities, the special education instructional improvement laboratory, and personnel including staff members and junior scientists. The Center has sponsored 176 dissemination and service reports and papers, as well as Ph.D. dissertations, Masters theses, and bachelor summa papers. (MC)