Allen Cognitive Levels

Why do I like to use Allen Cognitive Levels (ACL) to track the abilities of dementia patients? Because other scales such as the Global Deterioration Scale only list skills that the patient has already lost. As a therapist, I can't do anything about the abilities that have been lost. I want to know what abilities are left and which skills are most at risk of being lost in the near future. My role as a therapist is identifying these "at risk" abilities and designing a program that will reinforce these skills to delay the progression of the disease. In later posts we will be exploring in detail this process.