A method of evaluation of prereading skills in preprimary school children is described. The method, employing a check list, can provide either a record of class performance, or a cognitive profile of an individual student. The instrument is divided into 8 major task areas that may be seen as plateaus of cognitive development of prereading skills. It includes such activities as following directions, dramatizing, being read to, bookhandling, relating persons and names, word-related visual and auditory discrimination, and attempts to read. In using the check list, the teacher records the date when observation of a positive demonstration of a particular activity took place. A comprehensive record of sequential growth in the eight skill areas is thus compiled. A copy of the check list, a description of each of the eight cognitive activities, symptoms of each of the activities, and guides for discerning them are included. (AE)