Research concerned with the compensatory education of disadvantaged children points to language deprivation as a primary causative factor in the "cumulative deficit" in education and school failure of these children. From a psycholinguistic framework, a method was devised to teach some of the essential linguistic skills in a short intensive program. The method included the following three processes: modeling, hypothesis testing, and hypothesis checking. Two experimental groups of four- and five-year-old children were trained in four aspects of language. One group of seven was trained in morphology and part-whole relationships; the other group, consisting of six subjects, was trained in syntax and classification. A control group of ten was given group language training according to traditional methods. Pre- and post-training measures were taken on nine dependent variables, and these were combined to form one score for each of the four training areas. The following conclusions were drawn: (1) Children do acquire knowledge of rules of language which they can apply in new contexts and using new words; (2) These generalizations can be explicitly taught in a short intensive training program; (3) The methods used in the program are effective for teaching both the rules of the sentence formation and verbal-conceptual hierarchies useful in learning; (4) The skills and habits necessary for verbal mediation in problem solving can also be taught. (Author/CK)