This longitudinal research examines the development of literacy skills in the context of an educational microcomputer implementation conducted to evaluate word processors and LOGO as tools for cognitive enrichment. Three classes including 87 children in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada are being followed from first- through third-grade. One class received 5 hours of writing and mathematics enrichment per week and had access to microcomputers with word processing software; a comparison class received the enrichment without computers; and a nonintervention control class received only baseline tests and traditional lessons. At the beginning of the first year of the study, general intellectual functioning, verbal skills, and cognitive style were assessed. Bonitatibus and Flavell's (1985) ambiguity detection task was used as an indicator of metalinguistic performance. Cloze-rated reading comprehension and standardized writing samples were collected periodically. Analysis of data collected during the children's first year in school revealed relationships between ambiguity detection and psychometric subject variables and school performance indicators. Ambiguity detection was related to general intellectual function, certain verbal skills, and cognitive style. A significant relationship was found between ambiguity detection and reading comprehension. Reading, in turn, was related to psycholinguistic measures of writing. Additional analyses suggest the need for further study of the relationship between writing and ambiguity detection. Examples of the texts produced by the children and an analysis of the cloze passage are provided in Appendix A and B, respectively. (RH)