A total of 51 students participated in a study to determine the effect of a behaviorally oriented individualized instruction program on the objective grammar proficiency of academically deficient college freshmen. From a group of special students, 15 were randomly selected for the individualized instruction while 17 were assigned to sections of freshman English not using individualized instruction. A third group of students from regular English classes was used for comparison purposes. Students in all three groups were given a grammar test and wrote 250-word themes at the beginning of the 15-week semester. At the end of the semester, the students in all three groups took the standard department final examination, which included a grammar test and the writing of a 250-word theme. The findings suggested that the grammar skills of academically deficient students could be substantially improved; however, they did not support the notion that formal grammar ability transfers to theme writing. (FL)