This book describes an experimental compensatory preschool program carried out in England between 1968 and 1973. The program combined a traditional nursery program with a daily 20-minute period focusing on specific language and perceptual activities. Experimental and control subjects, 237 in all, were selected from four state supported nursery schools. The program was conducted in the regular classroom during the school day. A modified version of the Peabody Language Development Kit was used as the primary teaching device for the development of language skills. Perceptual training involved specially planned activities (such as cutting, drawing and sewing) as well as a variety of published games which emphasized matching and sorting. In addition, a parent involvement program was carried out in one nursery school. This program consisted of parent meetings (1970), parent participation in the nursery program (1971), and creative activity sessions for groups of parents (1971). Evaluation of the overall nursery program indicated significant differences in the language development of the experimental children in comparison to the controls at the end of the nursery school term. These experimental-control differences were short-lived, however, and tended to disappear soon after the children entered the infant schools at age 5. Results were discussed in terms of teaching and evaluation instruments used and in terms of the discontinuity in teaching objectives and methods between the nursery and infant schools. (BD)