For many years educators have been seeking effective reading materials suitable to the needs and interests of educationally and/or mentally retarded pupils. There have been several level of difficulty formulae evolved which purport to estimate with some degree of accuracy the level of reading difficulty of a given piece of writing. So far as the writer has been able to determine these formulae have never been applied to the actual task of simplifying written material for use by retarded children. It was toward this end that this study was undertaken.