[Implementation of the speech comprehension test for complex syntactic structures (after D.V. Bishop) in 6- and...

Standardized tests for speech comprehension have been lacking for the diagnostic investigation of primary school children with problems in hearing and speech development. The informal speech comprehension test for complex syntactic structures ("Sprachverständnistest für komplexe syntaktische Strukturen", SKSS), a shortened and in Swiss German translated modification of the Test for Reception of Grammar of Bishop, was analyzed for its logical validity of content, difficulty indices, selectivity, reliability and standard values in percent. We conducted the SKSS on 64 primary school children (first grade, average age 6.9 years) and 84 primary school children (second grade, average age 8.2 years). Four test sentences were excluded because of their ambiguous nature. The remaining 26 test sentences most often indicated low difficulty. However, there was an obvious difference between the two groups in terms of difficulty as well reliability. Based on our results, the test proved to be useful for screening. It allows both quantitative and qualitative interpretations.