A longitudinal study investigated the effects of an early intervention program with students who were identified as being at risk for developing reading disabilities. Intervention effects on reading comprehension and the developing relationship between reading comprehension and the linguistic processes of students were studied. The intervention program was implemented at the beginning of formal reading instruction and used individual clinical instruction with at-risk students. A total of 37 private school students were divided into 3 cognitive abilities groups and evaluated over a 3-year period using the reading comprehension and study skills sections of the "Stanford Achievement Tests" administered annually. Results showed no significant differences in the reading comprehension scores for at-risk and non at-risk students. However, the at-risk group showed significantly lower scores on the study skills section by the end of grade three. These results indicated that early reading intervention for at-risk students promoted compensation and helped develop processes for adequate reading comprehension. The at-risk students demonstrated weaker linguistic abilities than their non at-risk peers. (Two tables of data are included.) (MG)