THE DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES IN THE ART OF CHILDREN HAVE BEEN THE SUBJECT OF MUCH CHILD DEVELOPMENT THEORY AND RESEARCH. MUCH OF THIS WORK, EXAMPLES OF WHICH ARE PRESENTED IN THE INTRODUCTORY PORTION OF THIS DOCUMENT, HAS BEEN MERELY ANECDOTAL. OF CONCERN IN THIS STUDY ARE (1) THE FORMULATION OF OBJECTIVE PROCEDURES TO ASSESS THE DEVELOPMENTAL DRAWING CHARACTERISTICS FOUND IN CHILDREN'S ART, (2) A COMPARISON OF THE DRAWINGS OF ADVANTAGED AND DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN, AND (3) A DETERMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERCEPTION AS MANIFESTED IN DRAWING AND LANGUAGE AS ASSESSED BY A TEST OF READING VOCABULARY. THE SUBJECTS OF THIS STUDY WERE 1093 FIRST, THIRD, FIFTH, AND SEVENTH GRADE CHILDREN OF NEGRO OR WHITE RACES AND MIDDLE OR LOW INCOME LEVELS. THESE CHILDREN WERE INSTRUCTED DURING A CLASS PERIOD TO DRAW A PLAYGROUND SCENE. A DAY LATER, THE FIFTH AND SEVENTH GRADE PUPILS WERE ADMINISTERED THE GATES READING TEST. ON THE BASIS OF THE PLAYGROUND DRAWINGS, A 14-CATEGORY SCALE OF DRAWING DEVELOPMENTAL LEVEL WAS CONSTRUCTED, THE CRITERION BEING PERCEPTION OF SPACIAL RELATIONSHIPS. THE MORE SOPHISTICATED THE CHILD'S PRESENTATION OF SPACIAL RELATIONSHIPS, THE HIGHER HIS DEVELOPMENT. THE SCALE WAS VALIDATED BY HAVING 2 JUDGES INDEPENDENTLY CLASSIFY EXTRA PLAYGROUND DRAWINGS ACCORDING TO THE 14 CATEGORIES COMPOSING THE SCALE. THE CORRELATION WAS ABOUT .72. THE RESULTS OF CATEGORIZING THE EXPERIMENTAL DRAWINGS SHOWED THAT ADVANTAGED CHILDREN HAD A HIGHER DEVELOPMENT THAN THE DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN IN ALL 4 GRADES, ALTHOUGH THE GAP APPEARED TO DIMINISH FROM GRADE 1 TO GRADE 7. THERE ALSO APPEARED TO BE A SIGNIFICANT POSITIVE CORRELATION BETWEEN DRAWING SCORES AND READING VOCABULARY SCORES. (WD)