Recent research into the composing processes of children owes much to Piaget's postulate that cognitive development is linear--that children progress through stages of development whereby tasks are mastered at certain levels of cognitive understanding. The stages of children's writing processes (prewriting, composing, revising), as well as language development, drawing, and reading have been examined by Donald Graves, L. M. Calkins, and Glenda Bissex, among others. In one study, C. Temple, R. Nathan, and N. Burris concluded that children make the same discoveries in the same order. Susan Sowers detailed her observation of a first grade class, in which she used the techniques of invented spelling, writing conferences, and writing without assigned topics to compile children's writing for publishing. Issues currently being examined include the use of drawing as a prewriting exercise, and the relationships between scribbling, drawing, and talking. The issues of invented spelling and writing before reading have profound implications for new directions in elementary education. A growing amount of research indicates that reading is a highly abstract task and should follow rather than precede writing instruction. Frances Kane's work advocates the progression of thinking, drawing, writing, and reading. The link between Piaget's stages of cognitive development and its writing counterparts is a promising area of research. (NKA)