Consonant Trigrams Test for children: Development and norms

The purpose of this study was to develop and norm a pediatric version of the Consonant Trigrams Test (CTT). Participants were 714 students (326 males, 388 females) between the ages of 9 and 15 years. The estimated average verbal intelligence of the subject sample, as measured by the WISC-III Vocabulary subtest, was consistently at or near average. Pilot testing indicated that it was too difficult for the children to count backwards by threes; counting backwards by one was used instead, because it was less aversive and provided enough of a distraction. Results of the present study showed that scores improved with age, but did not differ significantly according to sex. Even though our test was simpler than the adult version, scores did not reach adult levels, based on data previously published by Stuss and colleagues. This underscores the need for a separate CTT for children.