Friend,
This trans. should start from a stop in second unless floored. It is a four speed trans. At the rear of the trans. a single wire connects the kickdown solenoid. Disconnect the wire and see if the problem goes away. Also, you could disconnect the "downshift cable" (or for the UK blokes...Bowden cable).
with cable disconnected it should upshift at low speeds ie. no throttle.
g'luck.
dpk
Oh yeah,btw does it have a "B" on the selector lever?