One hundred and forty-four patients from three different pediatric practices were compared using the Science Research Associates (SRA) tests for academic achievement. First, the patients were divided into those who had had three or more attacks of otitis media and those who had had no attacks of otitis media during the first 18 months of life as recorded by their pediatricians. Matched pairs by sex, birth date, occupation of father, school attended and year of testing were made for comparison purposes. Using the one-tailed t-test, a significant difference in the composite score was found favoring the group with no recorded otitis media in the first 18 months of life. All patients were treated with antibiotics.