Studied was memory for visually and auditorily presented stimuli in 29 institutionalized, mantally handicapped children, 29 normal second and third graders, and 29 5- and 6-year-old children enrolled in a Head Start program. Lists of visually and auditorily presented stimuli were learned by the three subject groups. Results indicated that trials to criterion did not differ across conditions for the normal second and third graders, but in the retarded group and in the Head Start group, the visual condition was found to require fewer trials than the auditory. The results were interpreted in light of the view that the retardate's cognitive development parallels the normal child's cognitive development in sequence, but at a slower pace. (CB)