The purposes of this study were to investigate possible relationships between haptic abilities and first grade reading achievement and to determine whether significant differences in haptic function existed among defined subgroups of first grade subjects. Ninety-nine subjects, stratified by both sex and risk of failure (a combination of reading readiness and cognitive ability) and cross partitioned by socioeconomic status (SES), were randomly selected from five Dade County, Florida, public schools. All subjects were administered the experimental battery, the Modality Assessment Profile; the Stanford Achievement Test, Paragraph Meaning Subtest; and the individual Wide Range Achievement Test, Reading Subtest. The findings indicated that haptic abilities were significantly related to reading achievement. Subjects who differed in cognitive ability or reading readiness also differed significantly in haptic performance; subjects from higher SES levels possessed more highly developed haptic abilities than those from lower levels; and there were no significant differences in performances of boys and girls. (Author/WR)