Sixty-four third-grade pupils who were underachieving in reading participated in a study to determine the effect of parental home instruction in reading. A four-cell experimental design was used with two treatment factors: programmed home reading instruction given by mothers trained to administer the program versus no instruction, and mother's participation in psychotherapeutic group discussions versus no participation. All pupils received in-class reading instruction from their classroom teachers. Pretest and posttest measures of mothers' attitudes and of pupils' achievement were obtained. Analyses of results indicated no significant differences between treatments for reading achievement, for mothers' overall attitudes, or for mothers' attitude change from pretest to posttest. (Author/AA)