A study was conducted to develop and test the empirical validity of a middle-range theory designed to explain and predict the relationship between speech communication egocentrism and reading achievement. The theory predicts an inverse relationship between elementary school children's levels of speech communication egocentrism and reading achievement. The empirical validity of the theory was tested using the scores of 180 first through sixth grade elementary students on S. Greenspan's Matrix Test of Referential Communication and the reading subtest of the Metropolitan Achievement Test. The results support the theory at all grade levels except first. (Author/RL)