Question
On the SSW, how do you score: a) snow fight foot ball; b) bad play play ground, and c) white dogs and dog house?Answer
"snow fight foot ball" is a common error (for "snow white foot ball"). Although generally a smush has two errors (i.e., snow fight ball) in some cases such as this, we see that one of the competing words is also correct. In this particular case it is impossible to know if it is a smush or simply a meaningful substitution for 'white'. I suspect that in most cases that the F-sound influenced the error and therefore it's a smush. I would feel entirely comfortable with calling this a smush if the person had at least one other smush on the test.
"back play play ground" (for "back door play ground") is a Back to Back (BTB) error as the person said the same word twice in a row.
"white dogs dog house" (for "white walls dog house") is an unusual response but it could be interpreted as a BTB or a smush. It looks like the first part of "dogs" is a BTB and the plural sound at the end is a smush so I would likely indicate both. Fortunately, one BTB or one smush is not going to alter the evaluation of a patient. Fortunately with multi-dimensional scoring on this test battery we do not depend on any single indicator.
This Ask the Expert was based on the recorded course series entitled "The Staggered Spondaic Word (SSW) Test - Virtual Conference" that was presented live on AudiologyOnline in Summer 2009. We invite you to view the recorded courses from this series that can be found in the AudiologyOnline library: Scoring Staggered Spondaic Word (SSW) Items - Plugging in the Best Information (course #14141);Scoring the Staggered Spondaic Word (SSW) Test: Using All the Elements (course #14166);and Auditory Processing Disorder (APD): Making a Diagnosis and Checking it Twice (course #14212).
Jack Katz has been involved in the study of central auditory disorders for over five decades. He has developed effective tests and therapy procedures to evaluate and remediate this prevalent problem. He has editied several books on this topic and has written many articles and chapters and has presented on this topic nationally and internationally. He has just completed a book focusing on therapy for APD that will be distributed by Educational Audiology Association. Dr. Katz has spent 50 years developing the SSW test as a measure of central auditory function.
