Contact Tamara Bushnik , PhD, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center at
Citation Bushnik, T. (2000). The Level of Cognitive Functioning Scale. The Center for Outcome Measurement in Brain Injury. http://www.tbims.org/ combi/lcfs ( accessed
).*
*Note: This citation is for the COMBI web material. Dr. Bushnik is not the scale author for the LCFS.
LCFS Rating Form
You can download a Portable Document Format (PDF) version of the LCFS Rating form (8K), or use the text version presented here.
Rancho Levels of Cognitive Functioning Scale (LCFS)
____ (1)
Level I - No Response. Patient does not respond to external stimuli and appears asleep.
____ (2)
Level II - Generalized Response. Patient reacts to external stimuli in nonspecific, inconsistent, and nonpurposeful manner with stereotypic and limited responses.
____ (3)
Level III - Localized Response. Patient responds specifically and inconsistently with delays to stimuli, but may follow simple commands for motor action.
____ (4)
Level IV - Confused, Agitated Response. Patient exhibits bizarre, nonpurposeful, incoherent or inappropriate behaviors, has no short-term recall, attention is short and nonselective.
____ (5)
Level V - Confused, Inappropriate, Nonagitated Response. Patient gives random, fragmented, and nonpurposeful responses to complex or unstructured stimuli - Simple commands are followed consistently, memory and selective attention are impaired, and new information is not retained.
____ (6)
Level VI - Confused, Appropriate Response. Patient gives context appropriate, goal-directed responses, dependent upon external input for direction. There is carry-over for relearned, but not for new tasks, and recent memory problems persist.
____ (7)
Level VII - Automatic, Appropriate Response. Patient behaves appropriately in familiar settings, performs daily routines automatically, and shows carry-over for new learning at lower than normal rates. Patient initiates social interactions, but judgment remains impaired.
____ (8)
Level VIII - Purposeful, Appropriate Response. Patient oriented and responds to the environment but abstract reasoning abilities are decreased relative to premorbid levels.