THE FREQUENCY OF 'ASPECT' (PERFECT AND PROGRESSIVE IN THE AUXILIARY) WAS REPORTED FOR RETARDED, NORMAL, AND SUPERIOR CHILDREN ACROSS AGE AND THE ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE MODALITIES. DATA WERE LIMITED IN SEVERAL RESPECTS, PARTICULARLY SIZE OF SAMPLE. THIS IS A PILOT STUDY RATHER THAN A SERIOUS EFFORT TO UNDERSTAND PROCESSES OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION. THE RESULTS OF THE PILOT STUDY ARE NOT MEANT TO BE OF PEDAGOGICAL OR THEORETICAL VALUE. RATHER, THE RESULTS ARE TO BE OF METHODOLOGICAL VALUE TO THE RESEARCHER WHO IS INTERESTED IN PURSUING 'PROCESS QUESTIONS.' METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR USING FREQUENCY DATA AS INDICES OF THE ACQUISITION OF GRAMMAR CONSTITUTED THE CORE OF THE PAPER. NOTABLE WAS THE USE OF RESTRICTED (UNIQUE TO A CHILD'S GRAMMAR) AND CO-OCCURRING (MOST FREQUENTLY ASSOCIATED) STRUCTURES. IT WAS CONCLUDED THAT, EXCEPT FOR THE SUPERIOR GROUPS' USAGE OF THE PERFECT IN THE WRITTEN MODALITY, THERE WERE INSUFFICIENT DATA TO SUGGEST CONCLUSIONS FOR THE PERFORMANCE VARIABLES UNDER STUDY (MA, CA, MODALITIES). WITH RESPECT TO RESTRICTED STRUCTURES, THE PATTERNS OF TYPE AND CO-OCCURRING STRUCTURES WERE SIMILAR FOR BOTH DIMENSIONS OF ASPECT. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT FURTHER RESEARCH ON ASPECT BE CONDUCTED OVER LARGER SAMPLES. (AUTHOR/BO'D)