Objective To develop Autism Social Skills Scale (ASSS) and examine its validity and reliability. Methods With the defini-tion of social skills presented by Nancy J. Patrick as theoretical basis, the preliminary ASSS (first version) was developed by literature analy-sis, open questionnaire. Totally, 392 children with autism participated in the pre-investigation, and the structure of the scale was confirmed after selecting and modifying items, then the second version of ASSS was developed. To test the validity and reliability of ASSS (formal version), totally 889 children with autism were sampled as respondents tested for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and internal consisten-cy test, and criterion validity was tested with the social domain of the first version Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (VABS) and Child-hood Autism Rating Scale (CARS). Totally 95 children with autism were retested three weeks later to exam the test-retest reliability. Results ASSS was composed of 50 items in five factors, including social orienting, social recognition, social communication, social participation and self-regulation, and 70.81%of the variance could be explained totally. Furthermore, the result of CFA (χ2/df=2.02, RMSEA=0.075, NFI=0.96, NNFI=0.97, CFI=0.97, IFI=0.97, TLI=0.98, GFI=0.91) indicated that the model fitted the data with well construct validity. The scores of ASSS were positively correlated with the social domains of the scores of the first version VABS (r=0.535-0.796, P<0. 01), while negative-ly correlated with The scores of CARS (r=-0.517 to-0.600, P<0.01). The Cronbach's α coefficients were 0.98 for the whole scale and 0.94-0.98 for the five factors. The test-retest coefficients were 0.92 for the whole scale and 0.88-0.94 for the five factors. Conclusion ASSS including five factors as social orienting, social recognition, social communication, social participation and self-regulation, has acceptable re-liability and validity and it is a good tool to assess the social skills for the children with autism.

The authors reviewed the development process of the concept of assessment augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) from focusing on prerequisite skills to communication needs and participation, introduced the team assessment and current three assessment models, including maximal assessment, criteria-based assessment and predictive assessment. Some factors which must be considered in all models were also given in this paper. The content and procedure of one most popular model were introduced in detail. The problems exsited in the application of AAC and the further development of AAC assessment were discussed.

Aim To investigate the effects of arecoline on glucose and lipid metabolism in type 2 diabetic rats and its mechanisms in glucose metabolism.Methods A type 2 diabetic rat model was established by fed with high fructose-high fat diet.The animals were randomly divided into 7 groups: control group,high fructose-high fat diet group(HF)and high fructose-high fat diet+arecoline(1 mg?kg-1,5 mg?kg-1,10 mg?kg-1,20 mg?kg-1,50 mg?kg-1)groups.The blood glucose,lipid level,hepatic function and liver histology were measured.The mRNA expression of liver glucose-6-phosphatase(G6Pase),phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase(PEPCK),Forkhead Box O1(FoxO1)and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-? coactlvator-1? (PGC-1?)were observed through RT-PCR.Results In comparison with the high fructose-high fat diet group,the fasting blood glucose and TC of the rats were significantly decreased by arecoline in a dose-dependment manner in high fructose-high fat diet+arecoline group.But hepatic function was damaged by 10 mg?kg-1,20 mg?kg-1 and 50 mg?kg-1 arecoline.The mRNA expression of hepatic G6Pase,PEPCK,FoxO1 and PGC-1? was decreased by treatment with 1 mg?kg-1 and 5 mg?kg-1 arecoline compared with the high fructose-high fat diet group.Conclusions Low dose arecoline can decrease fasting blood glucose and TC in type 2 diabettic rats,and the mechanism in glucose metabolism may be related to its effect on the inhibition of hepatic gluconeogenesis.