Two groups (G1 and G2) consisting of three flunked children each, ranging from eight to twelve years old, participated in the study. Both groups were given the WISC and IAR tests at the beginning and at the end of the study. G1 underwent a training of conditional discriminations, with words spoken as sample and words printed as comparison. All the children of G1 learned how to read, with greater increase of IQ than the children of G2. In the tests they presented high percentage of reading of the taught and of the generalized words. In IAR, both the subjects of G1 and of the G2 showed changes in the measured abilities for the test, especially, laterality, analysis-synthesis and motor coordination, with larger percentage of items altered for the G1 subjects. The results indicate the existence of a relationship between the emergence of generalized reading and increase of IQ.
conditional discrimination; school failure; stimulus equivalence
