Analyzed was the performance of 36 third grade children with various reading and articulation skills in blending selected syllables across three modes of presentation. Ss were divided into three groups: one with normal reading and speech skills, one with below grade-level reading skills and normal speech skills, and one with grade-level reading skills but exhibiting an articulation problem characterized by one or more defective speech sounds. Each S received a list of 81 stimuli divided into three modes of presentation (auditory, visual, and auditory-visual) within each of three mode types--vowel-consonant (VW), consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC), and consonant vowel-consonant (CV-C). CVCs were all familiar words while VCs were either real or nonsense words. Results indicated a significant effect for mode of presentation and syllable type, with the below grade-level reading group yielding the poorest performance in terms of correct responses in all modes and on all syllable types. The group with defective speech sounds usually produced the highest number of correct responses in all modes and on all syllable types. CV-C appeared to be the easiest syllable type to blend in all groups while CVC was the hardest. (Author/SBH)