In this paper, we describe the application of new computer and speech synthesis technologies for reading instruction. Stories are presented on the computer screen, and readers may desig­ nate words or parts of words that they cannot read for immediate speech feedback. The impor­ tant contingency between speech sounds and their corresponding letter patterns is emphasized by displaying the letter patterns in reverse video as they are spoken. Speech feedback is provided by an advanced text-to-speech synthesizer (DECtalk). Intelligibility data are presented, showing that DECtalk can be understood almost as well as natural human speech by both normal adults and reading disabled children. Preliminary data from 26 disabled readers indicate that there are significant benefits of speech feedback for reading comprehension and word recognition, and that children enjoy reading with the system.