MANY PUPILS ENTER FIRST GRADE EACH YEAR WHO ARE LINGUISTICALLY HANDICAPPED AND ARE UNABLE TO COPE WITH THE TRADITIONAL READING PROGRAMS WHICH HAVE BEEN DESIGNED FOR THE MIDDLE-CLASS ANGLO-SAXON STEREOTYPE. THESE MINORITY GROUP YOUNGSTERS FALL MAINLY INTO TWO MAJOR CATEGORIES. THE FIRST GROUP IS MADE UP OF NATIVE ENGLISH-SPEAKING CHILDREN WHOSE SPEECH HABITS ARE NON-STANDARD, AND THE SECOND GROUP IS COMPOSED OF THOSE BILINGUALS FOR WHOM ENGLISH IS NOT THE NATIVE LANGUAGE. BOTH GROUPS OF STUDENTS MUST LEARN TO READ AND WRITE STANDARD ENGLISH IF THEY ARE TO SUCCEED IN SCHOOL AND ACHIEVE MAXIMUM SOCIAL MOBILITY. TO COPE WITH THE PROBLEMS OF THESE YOUNGSTERS, THE DADE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS DEVELOPED A BEGINNING LANGUAGE AND READING PROGRAM, THE "MIAMI LINGUISTIC READERS" SERIES. THIS SERIES, DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY FOR FIRST AND SECOND GRADERS, CONSISTS OF A READINESS UNIT, TWENTY ONE PUPILS' BOOKS ORGANIZED INTO FIFTEEN LEVELS, TWO "BIG BOOKS", AND A SEATWORK BOOKLET AND TEACHER'S MANUAL FOR EACH LEVEL. THE MIAMI PROGRAM REPRESENTS A CREATION OF NEW INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS, AND BREAKS WITH TRADITION IN THE AREA OF ORGANIZATION AND TO SOME EXTENT IN THE AREA OF CONTENT, BUT FOLLOWS TRADITION IN ITS SUGGESTED TECHNIQUES FOR TEACHING READING. THIS SPEECH WAS PRESENTED AT A CONFERENCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL READING ASSOCIATION, DALLAS, TEXAS, MAY 4-7, 1966. (ES)