Lateralization of Receptive Language in Preschoolers: Test-Retest Reliability in a Dichotic Listening Task

This study determined the test-retest reliability of dichotic listening procedures for assessing cerebral lateralization of receptive language in preschoolers. On two occasions, 7 to 9 days apart, dichotic digit tapes were presented to 29 right-handed children who were between 33 and 65 months of age. Two thirds of the subjects showed left-hemispheric superiority (right-ear advantages) on both occasions. Test-retest correlations of six different measures (right ear, left ear, right minus left difference, Phi coefficient, Lambda coefficient, and the laterality coefficient) ranged from .78 to .90 ( p s < .0001). Of the 29 children, 24 showed a consistent right- or left-ear advantage. There was no consistent pattern among children who changed across tests. On both test and retest, the six scores were highly intercorrelated ( r s > .96, p s