THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THREE APPROACHES TO TEACHING BEGINNING READING AND THE INFLUENCE OF AN ORAL LANGUAGE STIMULATION PROGRAM ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN IS REPORTED IN THE FIRST-YEAR REPORT OF A 2-YEAR INTERVENTION STUDY. SUBJECTS WERE 608 FIRST-GRADE PUPILS FROM 12 ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN AN INNER-CITY AREA. THE THREE EXPERIMENTAL READING TREATMENTS WERE (1) THE INITIAL TEACHING ALPHABET (ITA) USED PHONETICALLY, (2) THE WORDS IN COLOR (WIC) PROGRAM, AND (3) A SUPPLEMENTED CONVENTIONAL READING PROGRAM (SCRP) USING A BASIC READER PLUS ADDITIONAL PHONICS MATERIAL. IN ADDITION TO THE READING TREATMENTS, SOME OF THE EXPERIMENTAL CLASSES RECEIVED AN ORAL STIMULATION PROGRAM IN THE FIRST YEAR UTILIZING LEVEL 1 OF THE PEABODY LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT KITS (PLDK). NINE EXPERIMENTAL TREATMENT GROUPS AND ONE CONTROL GROUP WERE ESTABLISHED. PRETESTS AND POST-TESTS WERE ADMINISTERED. ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE, ORTHOGONAL COMPARISONS, AND T TESTS WERE USED TO ANALYZE THE DATA. THE RESULTS SUGGEST THAT THE PLDK PROGRAM ENHANCED PERFORMANCE OF DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN IN INTELLECTUAL GROWTH AND IN ORAL LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT, BUT NOT IN SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT. THE COMBINATION OF ITA AND PLDK WAS LESS EFFECTIVE THAN THE OTHER TREATMENTS. THE SCRP EXPERIMENTAL TREATMENT WAS SUPERIOR AT THE .90 LEVEL TO THE WIC AND ITA TREATMENTS, WITH GIRLS SUPERIOR TO BOYS IN ALL CASES. A BIBLIOGRAPHY AND APPENDIXES ARE INCLUDED. (BK)