Jean Piaget's theory seems to lend support to reading specialists who believe that concrete operational thought constitutes a necessary and sufficient condition for learning to read. Preoperational children cannot deal with the complex relationships inherent in reading because they are tied perceptually to the immediate situation or representations of past perceptual situations. They cannot make mental comparisons or explore the similarities and differences in previous cognitive encounters. In situations when relationships are not perceptually apparent but must be "seen" through reason, preoperational children are at a loss. Even though the preoperational child has the symbolic function, it must be remembered that symbols are a part of functioning and therefore cannot go beyond the level of that functioning. Briefly, symbols are meaningful only if the individual has an operative scheme into which the symbol is assimilated. Before schemes are operational, symbols can do no more than reflect reality--and the reality reflected is devoid of multiple characteristics and complex relationships. The reality of print, however, is one of complex multiple relationships. It is therefore not surprising that preoperational thinkers are likely to have difficulty in learning to read. (Author/FL)