Based on its use with first graders in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for an eleven year period, the Initial Teaching Alphabet (i.t.a.) appears to have a number of advantages for reading instruction. These years of research have indicated that the advantages of i.t.a. are that it permits the child to: advance more rapidly in reading and writing experience; achieve significantly superior reading skills at an earlier time; read more widely; write more prolifically, more extensively, and with a higher degree of proficiency; develop high spelling skills fairly early; show a lack of the inhibitions in writing which are commonly found early in the first year; and write more creatively in terms of the number of running words and the number of polysyllabic words used. An analysis of subsidiary characteristics indicated a marked reduction in letter confusions, fewer restrictions on adhering to a particular structure in a published series, reduction in the need for remedial reading posts, and a reduction in failure rate. (WR)