[[alternative]]A Study of Peer Acceptance of Children with Autism at the Elementary School Level

[[abstract]]The purposes of this study are :1. to explore the effect of sex,grade,and degree of contact of elementary school students on their attitude toward children with autism; 2. to investigate the social status of autistic children in regular class ; and 3. to reveal the opinion of parents and teachers of children with autism regarding the mainstreaming education. The subjects include 741tudents, 388 boys and 353 girls, in grades four, five, and six from the schools in Taipei city and Taipei county, and six autistic children, their parents and teachers. "Sociometric Scale","Autistic Child Placement Questionnaire", and "Acceptance Attitude Scale for Elementary Students toward Atistic Children" arde used for data collection. The data obtained are analyzed by MANOVA, and Pearson's corrlation. The major findings are listed below: 1.The girls are more willing to accept students with autism than boys. 2.Autistic children are more acceptable by 4th graders than 5th and 6th graders. 3.The less the subjects contact with autistic children, the more they tend to accept autistic children. 4.Autistic children are not obviously rejecteded by their regular class students. 5.The parents of autistic children hope to have pleural education placements to suit needs of their children. They think that the acceptance of the teachers is crucial for autistic children's school adjustment. 6.Teachers of autistic children wish to have inservice training and to be provided with teaching materials and methords suitable for students with autism. The researoh findings are discussed in the framework of contemporary education system for children with autism in Taiwan, Recommendations for future research and education system are also made.