PURPOSE: to investigate rapid serial naming of children in a public and private school- with and without complaints of school problems. METHODS: 138 children of both genders took part in the study, with age ranging between 7 and 11 years, of the city of Belo Horizonte, fundamental teaching, between the 2nd and the 5th year. The Test of- Rapid Automated Naming - (RAN) was applied and we evaluated the time spend by the subject to name a series of family visual incentives: colors, letters, digits and objects - as fast as possible. RESULTS: the results of this study evidenced that the private school acting of students compared to that of the students in public school is superior and that there is a- significant statistical difference- among subjects with complaints of learning problems as compared to those without complaints. CONCLUSION: this study signals that the capacity of serial nomination can be considered as one of the fundamental abilities for the good acting in reading. So, there is a need for continuity of researches that will set up the relationship of the ability in the language with other reading- and writing abilities for checking the direct impact of the fast nomination in the process of reading learning.