Three 4-year-old boys were subjects of an experiment involving reinforcement of verbal imitation. Intended to provide insights into language learning and speech therapy, this investigation began by introducing to the subjects the idea of imitation of the experimenter's words. Each time the child correctly reproduced the stimulus word, he was given candy and praise. The next part of the study was similar in procedure except that Russian words were added but were never reinforced. In the third phase, subjects were not reinforced for imitating either English or Russian words. Later reinforcement of English word imitation was reinstated. The results, based on the number of correct imitations, showed that during experimental phases when reinforcement was tied to correct imitative responses, the correct imitation of English and Russian words increased, even though the Russian words were never reinforced. When reinforcement was not tied to correct imitation of the English words, correct imitation of both English and Russian words decreased. (WD)