Adapted screening devices and teacher observation were used in a 1974 study of 1003 Finnish students (ages 6-8) in an effort to predict future learning difficulties. Six areas were assessed: gross motor skills, sensory-motor integration, perceptual-motor skills, arithmetic skills, socioemotional adjustment, and verbal ability. In a follow-up study with 104 students nine years later (1983), it was reported that socioemotional adjustment, perceptual-motor skills, and arithmetic ability were found to be the best predictors of future school achievement. Teachers were reported to predict school achievement and behavior more accurately than did screening devices, particularly in the spring semester of the first year of school. (Author/JW)