The vast majority of American-born adults are exposed to written language from a very early age. Most Americans live in a print-based society where letters and words are everywhere! Drive, walk, or bike down any American street and you will see numerous eye-catching billboards, signs, and storefronts. Our towns, cities, neighborhoods, and homes offer many sources of written or electronic information. In addition, most American-born adults have received formal schooling for at least eight to nine years due to nationwide mandatory public education. They have experienced "educational opportunity" if not educational achievement. So, it may be surprising that a certain number of American-born adults still cannot read well enough to access or use print-based information. And it is very challenging when these adults enroll in ABE programs and are expected to make "level change" as measured by silent reading comprehension tests. They arrive with low literacy skills frequently complicated by low self-esteem and life-long feelings of failure, shame, and defeat. This issue of LDA (Learning Disabilities Association) of Minnesota's "NetNews," considers the importance of word study; assessing word word recognition, implementing beginning word study; and implementing intermediate word study. [For Volume 7, Number 2 of "NetNews," see ED498938.]