Four cities in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark have been engaged since 1977 in a joint study of the junior level of elementary school. (More than 5,000 pupils are involved in the study.) The Department of Education at the University of Turku joined the project in the autumn term of 1979. The purpose of the Swedish project, reported here, was to investigate, with particular attention to specific reading and writing disabilities, the cognitive and socioemotional development of children during the first three years of school. (About 700 children took part in the study.) Practical aims of the project were to improve clinical investigations of remedial education and to provide guides for planning educational assistance for children with reading and writing disabilities. Screenings utilizing multiple measures at each of three test times were made at the end of grade one (spring term 1977), at the beginning of grade two (about 6 months later), and halfway through grade three. An underachieving pupil group was defined on the basis of the results of the first and second screenings. Subsequently, a comprehensive process of investigation and treatment for the underachieving group was started at the end of the autumn term in grade two. Results are discussed. (Author/RH)