Too often, teachers working with individualized instructional programs turn the instruction over entirely to kits, packets, and canned commercial materials and abandon all meaningful teacher/student and student/student interaction. This paper urges teachers to avoid a total dependence on commercial and teacher-made learning packets. It examines the learning problems that can develop when students are taught entirely from "kits and cans," describes typical reading-lab lessons that reflect inadequate approaches to teaching reading, stresses the advantages of an individualized program that involves interaction, and offers suggestions for establishing workable individualized programs for both large and small classes. The suggestions deal with such aspects of an individualized program as using peer tutors, working with small groups, and helping students to develop individual contracts. (GW)