THE PROBLEMS EXAMINED IN THIS STUDY WERE (1) THE RELATIONSHIP OF PERCEPTION OF WORD ELEMENTS TO SIGHT VOCABULARY GROWTH, (2) THE EFFECT OF EARLY TEACHING OF A SPEECH-BASED PHONICS PROGRAM ON READING ACHIEVEMENT, AND (3) THE VALUE OF WRITING EMPHASIS IN THE SPEECH-BASED PHONICS PROGRAM. THREE READING PROGRAMS WERE INCLUDED IN THE STUDY, EACH USED IN 10 FIRST-GRADE CLASSROOMS. ONE GROUP FOLLOWED THE "GRADUAL PHONICS APPROACH" FOUND IN THE SCOTT-FORESMAN READERS AND WORKBOOKS. A SECOND GROUP FOLLOWED THE SYSTEMATIC "SPEECH-TO-PRINT PHONICS" PROGRAM (DURRELL AND MURPHY, 1964) WITH VISUAL WORD STUDY. THE THIRD GROUP ALSO USED THE "SPEECH-TO-PRINT PHONICS" WITH AN EMPHASIS ON WRITING RESPONSES. TEST BATTERIES WERE USED TO GATHER DATA ON THE THREE GROUPS THROUGHOUT 1 SCHOOL YEAR. THE FOLLOWING CONCLUSIONS WERE MADE ON THE BASIS OF TEST DATA ANALYSIS--(1) GROWTH IN SIGHT VOCABULARY IN BEGINNING READING IS RELATED TO PERCEPTION OF WORD ELEMENTS, (2) EARLY TEACHING OF SPEECH-BASED PHONICS RESULTS IN HIGHER ACHIEVEMENT IN READING AND SPELLING, (3) EMPHASIS IN WRITING PRACTICE RESULTS IN MORE WRITING AND BETTER SPELLING IN CHILDREN'S COMPOSITIONS. (JH)