A COMPARATIVE-STUDY ON WORD AND DIGIT SPA N TASKS IN 4 AND 7 YEAR-OLDCHILDREN

Word and digit span subtests of frequently used test batteries such as the Leidse Diagnostische Test and Dutch versions of the McCarthy Scal es of Children's Abilities and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Chi ldren-Revised, are compared with a newly constructed word and digit sp an task in which confounding factors such as repetition and word heter ogeneity were eliminated. The comparison is based on the derived word and digit span in 40 four- and 40 seven year old children. We found th at minor differences in test construction and scoring yield significan t differences in the evaluation of memory span, although the underlyin g cognitive process is identical. In the conclusion the clinician is w arned against an unbalanced appraisal on subtest level of the word and digit span tasks of these batteries.