A study was conducted to determine which of three major cue systems (linguistic, cognitive, or extralinguistic) 146 subjects at the kindergarten, first grade and second grade levels used to reconstruct meaning when confronted with a reading task. Cue system utilization was related to four factors: modality (listening versus reading), reading achievement as identified by classroom teachers, grade level, and familiarity with vocabulary. The subjects differed significantly in the utilization of various cue systems with an increasing utilization and dependency upon the linguistic system. (Author/FL)