A PILOT EXPERIMENT CONDUCTED TO TEST THE EFFECT OF A SPECIALLY DEVISED PHONIC APPROACH TO EARLY READING IS DESCRIBED. THE PHONIC METHOD USED ACHIEVED SOUND-SYMBOL REGULARITY AND HAD THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERISTICS--(1) CONSONANT GRAPHEMES EACH REPRESENTED ONLY ONE SOUND AND WERE PRINTED USING NEARLY STANDARD ALPHABETIC SYMBOLS. (2) EACH VOWEL PHONEME WAS ASSOCIATED WITH A COLOR, AND THE GRAPHEMIC REPRESENTATION OF THE VOWEL WAS PRINTED IN THAT COLOR. FOR EXAMPLE, THE E IN HE, THE EA IN MEAT, AND THE Y IN HAPPY WERE ALL PRINTED IN BLUE. (3) UNSOUNDED, OR SILENT LETTERS, SUCH AS THE B IN LAMB WERE SYMBOLIZED BY OUTLINE LETTERS. A SPECIAL FONT WAS DESIGNED TO MINIMIZE VISUAL CONFUSIONS. SUBJECTS WERE 20 5-YEAR-OLDS ATTENDING A PRIVATE KINDERGARTEN IN A SUBURBAN MIDDLE-CLASS COMMUNITY. TECHNIQUES AND MATERIALS USED DURING THE 7-MONTHS TEACHING PERIOD ARE DESCRIBED. ACHIEVEMENT WAS MEASURED BY FOUR SPECIAL TESTS DESIGNED FOR THE EXPERIMENT AND THE METROPOLITAN ACHIEVEMENT TEST ADMINISTERED UNDER STANDARD CONDITIONS. RESULTS INDICATED THAT WITH SUCH A SYSTEM CHILDREN WITH MENTAL AGES UNDER 7 COULD LEARN TO READ AND TO GENERALIZE TO STANDARD PRINT WITHOUT FORMAL TRAINING. SAMPLE INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS, TEST ITEMS, TABLES, AND FIGURES ARE INCLUDED. (RH)