Mentally retarded children have been widely characterized by an inability to attend to relevant aspects of a stimulus display. This information has seldom been considered when producing instructional media for the retarded. In this paper, a taxonomy of visual attention influencing devices is presented which may be used as a structure for research, development and evaluation of instructional media for the handicapped. Five research studies based on this taxonomy are also summarized. These investigations reveal that while most attention influencing devices show some positive effects, four devices—motion, verbal pointers, arrows, and spatial location—seem to be most effective. Although further research is needed to determine the effects of attention-influencing procedures across materials and settings, the results clearly indicate that these devices may be utilized to improve the quality of instructional materials for the retarded.
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