This study investigated the relationship between visual attending and learning in a group of 16 Head Start children from low income families. Attending behavior (defined as "eyes oriented towards the teacher and/or teaching materials for a full 5-second interval") was measured for each child during a 10-minute story period on four consecutive days. During each story period, cassette recordings of two stories were played while the teacher showed corresponding pictures. Between the two stories, the teacher performed a number of distinct motor behaivors (i.e., arms raised over head). These motor behaviors were used to test children's recall of model behavior. After each day's storytime, children were individually questioned about the material presented during the second story and were asked to perform the same motor behaviors that the teacher had done between the two stories. Children were asked questions to which answers could be obtained: (1) only by looking at the pictures or (2) only by listening to the story text. Half of the subjects (the experimental group) received praise for orienting their eyes towards the teaching materials and not talking to other children. Results showed that the mean level of attending on treatment days for the experimental group was 70.25% compared with 46.2% attending for the control group, a statistically significant difference. It appears that reinforcing visual attention does facilitate learning in the classroom for most children. (BRT)