During 1966-1967, Negro and Spanish-American pupils in grades 1 and 2 of seven Milwaukee elementary schools received a program of intensive assistance from trained speech therapists. The goals of the program were (1) to increase the verbal ability of disadvantaged children to enable them to compete with middle-class children of the same age, and (2) to compile a list of effective techniques developed by the project therapists. Two experimental samples (273 students) and two control samples were randomly selected from students in the lower 85% of their classes. Students in the experimental sample met in groups of from 6 to 8 students with a therapist for 45 minutes, 4 days a week for 15 weeks. The students talked, listened, and carried out activities, such as illustrating stories. The effectiveness of the program was tested by the Ammons Quick Test of verbal-perceptual intelligence, the evaluation of tape-recorded samples of the children's speech by therapists not involved in the program, and the evaluation of the students' performances by their classroom teachers and by project therapists. Although the results do not completely aggree, evidence indicates that this program of compensatory education was successful. (Sample units from the program and lists of therapy techniques are included.) (LH)