To discover whether increased exposure to and understanding of figurative uses of language would result in improved performance on a metaphorical language comprehension test, gains were measured on a figurative language test that was administered twice, approximately four months apart, to a total of 319 elementary school children in Harlem, New York. Specifically, the study examined children's exposure to and participation in the creative, verbal street game called "sounding" or "playing the dozens," and it studied the effects of a program of creative writing instruction provided by visiting writers. The results indicated that the special instruction tended to improve the figurative language comprehension of the children. Also, those children who frequently engaged in sounding comprehended figurative language better than those who did not. This latter effect could not be accounted for by differences in general language ability. It was concluded that the use of figurative language in sounding did enhance black school children's ability to understand the more literary uses of metaphor and simile encountered in the classroom. (HOD)