Interpretation of the Staggered Spondee Word (SSW) test.

The Staggered Spondee Word (SSW) test is a dichotic listening test that has been frequently used in the evaluation of auditory perceptual abilities in children with language and learning problems. Interpretation of this test is based on scores obtained under noncompeting and competing portions of the test stimuli, and on response biases that include ear and order effects, reversals, the type A pattern, and the total bias score. Alternate methods of interpreting SSW results are suggested. Data obtained on 57 children referred for central auditory and language testing are presented for illustration.