INTERACTION BETWEEN VISION AND HEARING WERE STUDIED IN 35 SPEECH HANDICAPPED FIRST-GRADE CHILDREN. THE ABILITY TO SHIFT ATTENTION FROM ONE SENSORY MODALITY TO ANOTHER WAS LABELED AS "PERCEPTUAL SHIFTING." A DEVICE DEVELOPED BY EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGISTS PRESENTED VARIOUS STIMULI TO EACH SUBJECT AND RECORDED THE SUBJECT'S REACTION TIME. STIMULI CONSISTED OF (1) A RED LIGHT, (2) A BUZZER, OR (3) BOTH LIGHT AND BUZZER. STUDENTS TOUCHED A PANEL TO REACT AND TERMINATE THE STIMULUS. STIMULI WERE PRESENTED IN RANDOM ORDER SO THAT NINE DIFFERENT STIMULUS-SHIFT CONDITIONS WERE TESTED. THE CONTROL GROUP OF 70 NORMAL SPEAKING FIRST-GRADE CHILDREN WAS SELECTED FROM PUBLIC SCHOOLS. RESULTS OBTAINED DEMONSTRATED THAT THE SPEECH DEFECTIVE CHILDREN STUDIED WERE MORE HANDICAPPED ON TASKS OF AUDITORY-VISUAL PERCEPTUAL SHIFTING WHEN COMPARED WITH THEIR NORMAL SPEAKING PEERS. WITHOUT ADDITIONAL RESEARCH, IT WAS CONSIDERED PREMATURE TO USE PERCEPTUAL SHIFT IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF SPEECH DEFECTS. (JM)