This paper reports on two studies that were designed to provide preliminary data on the psychometric properties of a new matrix test of referential communication and to explore the validity of the test as a predictor of both developmental level and socioemotional adjustment of normal and emotionally disturbed children. Referential communication is defined as the process of verbal interaction in which one person imparts to another person information which the second person needs in order to carry out some task. Studies by Piaget and others are cited which indicate that children tend to be less egocentric in this communication as they grow older--that is, they increasingly take into account what the other person needs to know. The two present studies are then described. Study 1, carried out with 120 normal elementary school children, was concerned with establishing the developmental parameters of referential communication performance and with assessing the reliability of the instrument. In Study 2, the socioemotional correlates of referential communication were assessed in 125 moderately emotionally disturbed children. The instrument, a nonsubjective one, was found to be highly reliable. There was a strong age effect, with major shifts in test performance occurring at entry into both the concrete period and the formal operations period. Egocentric communication was found to be greater in emotionally disturbed children than in normal children. (Author/MS)