A THEORY OF TEACHING SEVERELY HANDICAPPED READERS TO READ BY MODALITY BLOCKING OR NONVISUAL ATK, THE AUDITORY-KINESTHETIC-TACTILE METHOD, RATHER THAN BY STRENGTHENING ALL SENSORY MODALITIES IS REPORTED. INDIVIDUALS WHO SPEAK ADEQUATELY BUT WHO READ INADEQUATELY SUFFER INTERFERENCE FROM THE VISUAL INPUT SYSTEM IN THE LEARNING OF READING. IF THE INDIVIDUAL IS TO LEARN TO READ, VISUAL INPUT MUST BE BLOCKED. THE NONVISUAL ATK METHOD BLOCKS THE CONFLICTING MODALITY WITH CONSTRUCTIVE RESULTS AT STRATEGIC STAGES IN THE LEARNING PROCESS. USUALLY, THE CHILD IS BLINDFOLDED OR CLOSES HIS EYES, AND THE WORD TO BE LEARNED IS TRACED ON HIS BACK. AS THE TEACHER TRACES THE WORD, SHE SPELLS IT ALOUD. OFTEN, AFTER TWO OR THREE TRACINGS, THE CHILD CAN IDENTIFY THE LETTERS BEING TRACED, AND HE SPEELS OUT THE WORD. IN GENERAL, ONCE A WORD HAS BEEN MASTERED BY THE NONVISUAL METHOD, IT SEEMS TO BE HANDLED BY THE CHILD WITH COMPLETE NORMALCY. A LEARNING FACTOR SEEMS TO MATURE, AND WORD RECOGNITION, SPELLING, AND READING COMPREHENSION IMPROVE AT A CONSIDERABLY FASTER RATE THAN WOULD BE EXPECTED FROM THE LIMITED NUMBER OF WORDS TAUGHT. A PARAPROFESSIONAL AIDE COULD HELP CHILDREN USING THIS METHOD. REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED. THIS PAPER WAS PRESENTED AT THE ASSOCIATION FOR CHILDREN WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES CONFERENCE (BOSTON, FEBRUARY 1968). (AUTHOR/JM)