A tutoring guide prescribing procedures for teaching naming and sounding of letters and decoding of nonsense words was developed. A sample group of kindergarten and first graders was randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The tutoring guide was distributed to chosen tutors (parents and high-school students). The tutors met with the children about four times a week, 15 minutes in each session, until the child achieved mastery of naming, sounding, and decoding. The tutors received no formal training and the tutoring was supervised. Six weeks later all children were tested individually on specified criteria, and results were analyzed on each of the three skills. It was found that the difference of mean scores between tutored groups and nontutored groups was not significant for naming, but significant at the .01 level for sounding and decoding; the difference of mean scores between the kindergarten and first grade groups was not significant for naming and decoding, but significant at the .01 level for sounding. The study also indicated no significant difference between the mean gain of subjects tutored by parents and those tutored by high-school students. Tables and references are included. (AW)