USE OF THE ACCEPTANCE SCALE TO MEASURE ATTITUDES OF KINDERGARTEN-AGE CHILDREN

The Acceptance Scale for Kindergartners (ASK) was developed to assess the attitudes of kindergarten-age children toward children with disabi lities. It was administered to 188 kindergarten children, some of whom had contact with children with disabilities in their school and other s of whom did not have contact. The ASK provided evidence of criterion -related validity by discriminating (a) between children who did and d id not have contact with children with disabilities in their schools a nd (b) between male and female respondents. Children who had contact w ith individuals with disabilities were significantly more accepting th an children who did not. Girls were significantly more accepting than boys. An overall alpha coefficient of .79 and a Spearman-Brown Split H alf coefficient of .76 were found, suggesting that the ASK is reliable for children of this age.