AN EXPERIMENTAL TRAINING PROGRAM STUDIED THE EFFECTIVENESS OF NEW METHODS OF IDENTIFYING AND TEACHING PERCEPTUALLY HANDICAPPED CHILDREN WITH LEARNING DISORDERS. SUBJECTS WERE SELECTED BY THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA--SPECIFIC LEARNING DEFICITS, PERCEPTUAL DEFICITS, GENERAL COORDINATION DEFICITS, HYPERKINESIS, IMPULSIVITY, EMOTIONAL LIBILITY, SHORT ATTENTION SPAN AND/OR DISTRACTIBILITY, AND EQUIVOCAL NEUROLOGICAL SIGNS. SUBJECTS SELECTED WERE PLACED EITHER IN CLASS TYPE "T" (TRACTIBLE OR TRANQUIL) OR IN TYPE "H" (HYPERKINETIC). EXPERIMENTAL CONTROLS EXERCISED INCLUDED EVALUATION OF ALL CHILDREN BEFORE ENROLLMENT IN SPECIAL CLASSES, UNBIASED SELECTION, AND ASSIGNMENT OF SOME OF THE SUITABLE CHILDREN TO REGULAR CLASSES. A 3-YEAR EVALUATION WAS MADE. CURRICULUM FOCUSED ON BASIC SCHOOL SKILLS, AND TEACHERS TOOK ACCOUNT OF THE CHARACTERISTIC VARIABILITY OF PERCEPTUALLY HANDICAPPED CHILDREN. CLASSROOMS WERE ADAPTED TO ELIMINATE DISTRACTION, AND CLASSES WERE KEPT SMALL. MOTOR ACTIVITY AND REPETITION WERE STRUCTURED INTO CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES. SPECIAL TRAINING WAS REQUIRED OF THE TEACHERS. THE FIRST YEAR THE 14 EXPERIMENTAL SUBJECTS IMPROVED OVER THE 10 CONTROLS WITH AN AVERAGE GRADE LEVEL DIFFERENCE OF .13 IN READING, 1.01 IN SPELLING, AND .92 IN ARITHMETIC. THE SECOND YEAR THE 31 SUBJECTS IMPROVED AN AVERAGE OF 1.3 IN READING, .9 IN SPELLING, AND .9 IN ARITHMETIC. BEHAVIORAL CHANGES WERE ALSO NOTED. THE BENDER-GESTALT TESTS WERE ADMINISTERED TO MEASURE PERCEPTUAL GROWTH. DURING THE THIRD YEAR, WITH 94 SUBJECTS IN 11 CLASSES, AVERAGE IMPROVEMENT WAS .8 IN READING, .6 IN SPELLING, AND .6 IN ARITHMETIC. TABLES OF ACHIEVEMENT SCORES ARE GIVEN. THE SOURCES OF THE TEACHING METHODS USED ARE IDENTIFIED AS ALFRED STRAUSS AND LAURA LEHTINEN, AND THE FROSTIG PROGRAM FOR DEVELOPMENT OF VISUAL PERCEPTION AND THE HAY-WINGO METHOD OF TEACHING READING AND LANGUAGE SKILL ARE RECOMMENDED. DRAWINGS EVIDENCING VISUAL AND VISUAL MOTOR PERCEPTUAL GROWTH OF SEVERAL CHILDREN INVOLVED IN THE PROGRAM ARE INCLUDED AS EXHIBITS. A BIBLIOGRAPHY LISTS FOUR ITEMS. (JD)