Parents, for many reasons, are not always able to understand the nature of their child's handicap. Many physicians recognize that they are not always as effective as they might wish to be in enabling parents to comprehend handicaps. Written hand-out materials as aids to better understanding can be helpful to both physicians and families as supplements to verbal descriptions of the disease and instructions for care. This compilation of currently available literature, grouped by category of disease and with addresses where they may be ordered, should offer the pediatrician and other health personnel a ready source of assistance.