THE NECESSITY OF KEEPING AN EXPERIMENTAL, OPEN-MINDED OUTLOOK TOWARD FURTHER IMPROVEMENT IN THE INITIAL TEACHING ALPHABET (ITA) IS STRESSED. A LIMITED AMOUNT OF RESEARCH HAS LED TO THE CONCLUSION THAT THE TRADITIONAL ORTHOGRAPHY OF ENGLISH IS AN IMPORTANT CAUSE OF DIFFICULTY IN TEACHING AS WELL AS IN LEARNING READING AND WRITING IN ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES. APPARENTLY, THE ORIGINAL ITA IDEA HAS BEEN MISCONSTRUED IN A LARGE NUMBER OF AMERICAN SCHOOLS. THE MISCONCEPTIONS IN A PUBLICATION BY V. OHANIAN (1966) "CONTROL POPULATIONS IN ITA EXPERIMENTS" ARE DISCUSSED. THESE AMERICAN ALTERATIONS ARE CONTRASTED WITH THE TYPICAL BRITISH METHOD OF TEACHING ITA EXPERIMENTAL CLASSES. FUTURE USE OF ITA DEPENDS ON RESEARCH TO IMPROVE THE WRITING SYSTEM ITSELF IN ORDER TO PROVIDE GREATER EFFECTIVENESS IN THE TRANSFER TO READING AND WRITING IN THE CONVENTIONAL ORTHOGRAPHY OF ENGLISH. INFLUENCES WHICH MIGHT HINDER THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE ITA CONCEPT ARE DISCUSSED AND REFERENCES ARE GIVEN. THIS PAPER WAS PRESENTED TO THE NATIONAL READING CONFERENCE (ST. PETERSBURG, DECEMBER 2, 1966). (RH)