ASSESSING THE FEARS OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITY USING THE REVISED FEAR SURVEY SCHEDULE FOR CHILDREN - A COMPARATIVE-STUDY

This study compared the self-reported fears of children with disability using the Fear Survey Schedule for Children - Revised (FSSC-R). Children with intellectual disability reported a significantly greater number of fears than children with no disability, children with hearing impairment and children with visual impairment. Also the children with intellectual disability reported more idiosyncratic fears related to the unknown, injury and small animals. Consistent with normative findings (King et al., 1989b; Ollendick, King & Frary, 1989), girls reported significantly more fears than boys. Methodological issues are discussed including the reliability and validity of self-reported fears for children with disability.