OBJECTIVES WERE TO DETERMINE WHETHER A TECHNOLOGICAL DEVICE COULD TEACH 5-YEAR-OLDS TO READ, OVER WHAT INTELLIGENCE RANGES THE INSTRUMENT WOULD BE EFFECTIVE, WHETHER NEGRO CHILDREN FROM A RECENTLY CLOSED SEGREGATED SCHOOL WOULD RESPOND, AND WHETHER THE DEVICE COULD TEACH MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN. SUBJECTS WERE 22 KINDERGARTEN PUPILS FROM ONE SCHOOL AND A CONTROL GROUP OF 22 PUPILS MATCHED ACCORDING TO AGE, SEX, RACE, INTELLIGENCE, LEFT AND RIGHT HANDEDNESS, HEARING, VISION, LANGUAGE MATURITY, AND SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS. THE DEVICE USED WAS THE EDISON RESPONSIVE ENVIRONMENT INSTRUMENT, A COMPUTERIZED TYPEWRITER THAT REPRODUCES SEVERAL HUMAN SENSORY RESPONSES. THE INSTRUMENTS WERE HOUSED IN BOOTHS WHICH PROVIDED ISOLATION FROM DISTRACTION AND WERE MONITORED BY TRAINED PERSONNEL. SUBJECTS CAME VOLUNTARILY FOR 30-MINUTE SESSIONS OVER A 5-MONTH PERIOD, THE ACTUAL TIME AT THE E.R.E. RANGING FROM 22 TO 36 HOURS. EVIDENCE INDICATED THAT 20 KINDERGARTEN AND MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN (TWO SUBJECTS DROPPED OUT) LEARNED TO READ SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER THROUGH USE OF THE E.R.E. THAN 20 CHILDREN MATCHED IN NUMEROUS WAYS WHO WERE TAUGHT BY ENRICHED CONVENTIONAL READING METHODS. SCORES OF SLOWER CHILDREN WERE AS SIGNIFICANTLY SUPERIOR AS THOSE OF MORE INTELLIGENT CHILDREN. THERE WERE NO OBSERVED SEX OR RACIAL DIFFERENCES. IT WAS FELT THAT IF THE EXPERIMENT HAD CONTINUED, THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS WOULD HAVE BEEN GREATER. IMPLICATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH INCLUDED THE SUGGESTION FOR EXPLOITATION OF THE E.R.E. AS A MULTI-SENSORY METHOD OF TEACHING, FOR USING THE MACHINE WITH VERY YOUNG CHILDREN, AND FOR USING THE DEVICE TO TEACH READING QUICKLY AND EARLY ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT LEARNING TO READ WELL RESULTS FROM EARLY SUCCESS FOLLOWED BY EXTENSIVE READING.