My explanation of Digit Span was probably clear, but just in case you still have questions about it, let me tell you what it is.

Digit Span subtest is composed of two parts: Digits Forwards and Digits Backwards.

Digits Forward:
In this section, the tester reads to the child a string of digits (the child never sees the string, she has to get it auditorily and there are no repetitions) and the child is to say this string back in the same order as the examiner pronounced it.

Example:
psychologist reads: 9-2-5-3-6-8
child has to say back: 9-2-5-3-6-8
The section starts with 3-digit strings and gradually progresses all the way to 9-digit strings with two strings at each length.

Digits Backward:
In this section the psychologist reads to the child a string of digits. The child has to say this string back to the psychologist in reverse order from how the psychologist read it.
(Again, the child never sees the string and has to get it auditorily and there are absolutely no re-reads).

Example:
psychologist reads: 4-7-1-3-9
child has to say back: 9-3-1-7-4
The section starts with 2-digit strings and gradually progresses all the way up to 9-digit strings with two strings at each length.
The scores for Digits Forward and Digits Backward are combined into a single Digit Span subtest score.

Letter-Number Sequencing subtest, however, is more demanding:

In this subtest the psychologist reads to the child a mixed string of letters and numbers. (Again, the child never sees the string and has to get it auditorily and there are absolutely no re-reads). The child has to re-order the string in her head and say it back in such a way that all the numbers come before all the letters and are in ascending order and all the letters come after all the numbers and are in alphabetical order.
Example:
psychologist reads: 2-D-5-A-1-G
child has to say: 1-2-5-A-D-G

Another example:
psychologist reads: S-F-45-H-27
child has to say: 27-45-F-H-S
The subtest starts with 3-item strings and gradually progresses all the way up to 9-item strings.

Last edited by asiral; 03/10/10 07:33 PM.