The purpose of these four studies conducted during the 1967-68 academic year was to use the phrase reading programs in an exploratory manner with disadvantaged youth. Study 1 was an investigation of phrase reading development training with incarcerated male delinquents. There were 15 control subjects and 17 experimental subjects. The subjects in the reading program had about 5000 practice phrases from the primary and intermediate phrase reading development film series. The results indicated that the phrase reading group made about two years average gain in reading, and the control group failed to make any substantial progress. Study 2 was an investigation of phrase reading training with fourth grade children from a socially and culturally restrictive background. The phrase reading was incorporated as part of the regular language arts curriculum. The subjects had about 5000 practice phrases and gained about one year in reading from pretest to posttest. Study 3 investigated phrase reading training with ninth grade students designated as slow learners. The results indicated negligible results for the group's reading skills. Study 4 investigated phrase reading training with educably handicapped junior high school students. As a group, they made no significant improvement in reading levels. (WR)