The effects of practice on 8-10-yr-old children using the Staggered Spondaic Word Test.

Katz' Staggered Spondaic Word (SSW) Test was given at 50 db re SRT to 20 normal right-handed children aged 8 - 10 yrs. Half the Ss heard items 1 - 40 in that order, half heard the order Items 21-40, 1-20. Groups yielded similar total scores. For both groups there were no significant L-R ear differences. Practice on a prior 20 items had a significant effect on later responses to competing stimuli in a later 20-item test. There were too few errors on non-competing stimuli for meaningful analysis. Four practice items as provided by a standard version of this test were determined to be too few with children of this age.