The present report covers five studies conducted on the development of impulse control and its role in the academic achievement of lower socioeconomic status (SES) children. The studies were performed on nursery school children and first graders. Results suggested that there are several different types of impulsivity, and that only one of these is related to academic achievement. In general, the research findings from the project show that lower SES children develop verbal control over impulsive behavior more slowly than middle SES children. Furthermore, it was found that lack of impulse control was significantly related to poor academic achievement in the lower SES first graders, even though IQ was controlled. Finally, an attempt was made to train lower SES children in techniques that would lead to increased verbal control over their impulsive behavior. The training techniques developed in this research were found to lead to greater impulse control on specially devised experimental tasks. However, the data were not clear on whether these improvements in impulse control resulted in better academic achievement. Further research is needed on this topic. (Author/SE)