Greatest emphasis should be placed on the developmental and preventive aspects of the reading program, and the talents, skills, and responsibilities of the reading specialist should be redirected. At present too much time is spent by reading specialists in remediation work. To combat this and to work toward a total language arts program the author recommends a two-pronged attack. One, a sequence of reading skills should be developed, and two, knowledgeable teachers must be developed by effective inservice programs. As for the latter, the author believes the best teacher inservice program takes place at the local school level during the regular school day. To accompany this training program in the school's organization the author offers nine recommendations to help a school system develop a total reading program. References are included. (NH)