The Picture Word Game, a nonverbal test of the ability to use language-related symbols, was administered to 90 low-income urban students in grades 1 through 5. Ss were trained in one class period and then tested in class size groups within 2 days. In addition, previous scores on the Stanford Paragraph Meaning and Vocabulary Subtests were obtained from school records. Results indicated that the training-based procedure had advantages for assessing the language skills of low-income students who often have verbal deficits which inhibit them from displaying maximal competence on traditional tests. (Appendixes contain sample copies of the student's training booklet and of the final version of the test.) (LH)