The purpose of this research was to evaluate the relationship between cognitive style and reading readiness in kindergarten children categorized as potential successes or failures in reading. The cognitive styles that were assessed consisted of field-independence-dependence and impulsivity-reflectivity. The subjects were 60 male and 60 female children aged five and one-half to six and one-half years randomly selected from ten elementary schools in Los Angeles. The findings of the study indicate that children, whether or not they are predicted to be successful or problem readers, tend to be at similar levels of cognitive functioning for field-independence-dependence and perceptual impulsivity-reflectivity. However, motoric impulsivity-reflectivity appears to clearly differentiate between these two groups. In effect, an individual's ability to inhibit spontaneous motor activity in the service of a task, particularly when under instruction to do so, appears to be a crucial variable for successful reading. Educators need to spend their creative energies to devise new and more exciting instructional materials for these and all children. (Author/RB)