REMARKS. The test does not presuppose that the child should have the ability to make and use sentences like these for purposes of communication, or even that he should know the meaning of all the words they contain. Its purpose is to bring out the ability of the child to repeat a six-syllable series of more or less familiar language sounds. As every one knows, the normal child of 2 or 3 years is constantly imitating the speech of those around him and finds this a great source of delight. Long practice in the semi-mechanical repetition of language sounds is necessary for the learning of speech coördinations and is therefore an indispensable preliminary to the purposeful use of language. High-grade idiots and the lowest grade of imbeciles never acquire much facility in the repetition of language heard. The test gets at one of the simplest forms of mental integration. Binet says that children of 3 years _never_ repeat sentences of ten syllables. This is not strictly true, for six out of nineteen 3-year-olds succeeded in doing so. All the data agree, however, that the _average_ child of 3 years repeats only six to seven syllables correctly. III. ALTERNATIVE TEST: REPEATING THREE DIGITS PROCEDURE. Use the following digits: 6-4-1, 3-5-2, 8-3-7. Begin with two digits, as follows: "_Listen; say 4-2_." "_Now, say 6-4-1_." "_Now, say 3-5-2_," etc. Pronounce the digits in a distinct voice and with perfectly uniform emphasis at a rate just a little faster than one per second. Two per second, as recommended by Binet, is too rapid. Young subjects, because of their natural timidity in the presence of strangers, sometimes refuse to respond to this test. With subjects under 5 or 6 years of age it is sometimes necessary in such cases to re-read the first series of digits several times in order to secure a response. The response thus secured, however, is not counted in scoring, the purpose of the re-reading being merely to break the child's silence. The second and third series may be read but once. With the digits tests above year IV the re-reading of a series is never permissible. SCORING. Passed if the child repeats correctly, _after a single reading, one series out of the three_ series given. Not only must the correct digits be given, but the order also must be correct. REMARKS. Others, on the basis of rather scanty data, have usually located this test at the 4-year level. Our results show that with the procedure described above it is fully as easy as the test of repeating sentences of 6 to 7 syllables.[48] [48] See p. 194 _ff._ for further discussion of the digits test. CHAPTER X INSTRUCTIONS FOR YEAR IV IV, 1. COMPARISON OF LINES