This volume has been organized as a textbook for use in teachers' colleges and schools of education. The primary problem of the elementary school teacher is how to identify individual needs and provide for them in a classroom situation. Reading instruction is organized around six themes: differentiated guidance of students, general language development, reading readiness, the semantic basis of language, the social basis of language, and the use of systematic sequences. This method emphasizes individual development over lock-step coverage of subject matter.