THIS INVESTIGATION STUDIED THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN READING ACHIEVEMENT AND MORAL REALISM IN 7- TO 12-YEAR-OLD BOYS. INTRAGROUP TRENDS AND INTERGROUP DIFFERENCES IN MORAL REALISM AMONG RETARDED AND SUCCESSFUL READERS WERE COMPARED AND EVALUATED. A HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS AND A VERTICAL ANALYSIS WERE PERFORMED IN ORDER TO DETERMINE THE PRESENCE OF A CERTAIN DEVELOPMENTAL TREND IN MORAL THINKING (STRUCTURING) IN SUCCESSFUL READERS THAT MAY NOT BE PRESENT IN RETARDED READERS. FROM THE DATA OBTAINED BY INTERVIEWS IT WAS FOUND THAT CHILDREN WHO ARE RETARDED IN READING ACHIEVEMENT ARE ALSO SOMEWHAT RETARDED IN MORAL-CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT AS MEASURED IN PIAGET'S TERMS. THE STUDY SHOWED THAT THERE IS EVIDENCE OF A LAG IN MORAL REALISM IN RETARDED READERS WHEN THEY ARE COMPARED TO SUCCESSFUL READERS. (GD)