A study was conducted to determine the impact on remedial reading instruction of recent Massachusetts legislation aimed at providing diagnostic/prescriptive services to identified special needs children in the public schools. Specifically, the study concerned available programs, certification and deployment of specialized personnel, delivery of prescribed services, and application to the state for reimbursement for services rendered. Of the questionnaires mailed to school superintendents in 351 communities in the state, 130 were completed and returned. The findings revealed that a large number of school systems had remedial reading programs that employed certified reading specialists and that reading specialists were characteristically used in the state-authorized diagnostic/prescriptive procedure by which children were provided with special education services. They also revealed, however, that there was considerable confusion about the eligibility of school systems to receive state reimbursement funds when certified reading specialists provided diagnostic/prescriptive services to learning disabled children. As a consequence of this confusion, school systems whose administrators thought they were not eligible for reimbursement for reading specialists' services tended not to use specialists in this role, using instead special education teachers who might not have had specific preparation for teaching reading. (FL)