Dementia Rating Scale (DRS) – Sample
Steven Mattis‚ 1973
I. Attention
Digit span (Repeat three random digit strings forwards and backwards)
Respond to successive commands (Open your mouth and close your eyes)
Respond to single command (Stick out tongue)
Imitate movement (Raise your right hand)
Counting (Count A’s in matrix of letters‚ and in scrambled letter pattern)
Reading (Lists of words)
II. Initiation and perseveration
Verbal (Name things a person can buy at the supermarket; naming articles of clothing; Say “Bee‚ Key‚ Gee” four times.)
Motor—double alternating (movement Left palm up‚ right palm down‚ then switch simultaneously several times)
Graphomotor functions (Copy four geometric figures)
III. Construction
Geometric figures (Copy five figures)
IV. Conceptualization
Multiple choice:
Similarities—verbal (In what way are an apple and a banana alike?)
Primary inductive (Name three things people eat.)
Differences (Which does not belong: dog‚ cat‚ car?)
Similarities (Apple‚ banana. Are they both animals‚ fruit‚ or green?)
Identities and oddities (Which two figures are the same? Which one is different?)
create sentence (Make up a sentence using the words man and car.)
V. Memory
Verbal recall (Recall a simple sentence after distraction.)
Orientation (Awareness of time‚ place‚ president)
VI. Sentence recall (Repeat the simple sentence and the sentence involving man and car
Verbal recognition (Forced choice format: select which word in a pair you have read on previous page.)
Design recognition (Forced choice format: select which design in a pair you saw on the previous page.)
DRS-2™ Item Responses
Attention
A. Digit Span (Recalling digits forward and backward)
B. Two Successive Commands (Following two-part verbal commands)
C. Single Command (Following one-part verbal commands)
D. Imitation (Imitating motoric gestures)
AD. Counting Distraction 1 (Visual scanning and target number identification)
AE. Counting Distraction 2 (Visual scanning and target number identification)
AH. Verbal Recognition-Presentation (Reading a list of words aloud)
AJ. Visual Matching (Identifying visual design)
Initiation/Perseveration
E. Complex Verbal Initiation/Perseveration (Naming U. S. States)
F. Simple Verbal Initiation/Perseveration (Naming colors found in the room)
G. Consonant Perseveration (“Say‚ ‘gee-key-bee’ four times.” )
H. Vowel Perseveration (“Say‚ ‘boh-bah-bee’ four times.”)
I. Double Alternating Movements 1 (Palm up/palm down — five repetitions)
J. Double Alternating Movements 2 (Clenched/extended — five repetitions)
K. Alternate Tapping (Tap left/tap right — 10 repetitions)
L. Graphomotor Design 1 (Reproduction ramparts — five consecutive alternating “square-semi circle waves”)
M. Graphomotor Design 2 (Reproduction of “semi circle”)
N. Graphomotor Design 3 (Reproduction of “cross”)
O. Graphomotor Design 4 (Reproduction of at least five consecutive alternating “cross and semi circle” pairs)
Construction
P. Construction Design 1 (Reproduction of horizontal lines)
Q. Construction Design 2 (Reproduction of circle in a triangle)
R. Construction Design 3 (Reproduction of triangle and circle)
S. Construction Design 4 (Reproduction of circle)
T. Construction Design 5 (Reproduction of triangle)
U. Construction Design 6 (Production of recognizable) name/signature
Conceptualization
V. Identities and Oddities (Identifying similar and dissimilar visual designs)
W. Similarities (Identifying how objects are alike; abstract concept formation)
X. Priming Inductive Reasoning (Generating similar objects)
Y. Differences (Identifying dissimilar verbal objects)
Z. Similarities – Multiple Choice (Identifying how objects are alike in a multiple-choice format)
AB. Verbal Recall – Sentence Initiation (Generate sentence using “child” and “ball”)
Memory
AC. Orientation (Orientation to time‚ day‚ date‚ and situation)
AF. Verbal Recall – Reading (Recall of sentence presented orally)
AG. Verbal Recall – Sentence Initiation (Recall of sentence that was generated by the client)
AI. Verbal Recognition (Verbal forced-choice recognition memory)
AK. Visual Memory (Visual forced-choice recognition memory)
Mattis‚ S. Mental status examination for organic mental syndrome in the elderly patient. In: Bellak L‚ Karasu TB‚ eds. Geriatric psychiatry: a handbook for psychiatrists and primary care physicians. New York: Grune and Stratton‚ 1976:77–121.
Coblentz‚ M.‚ Mattis‚ S.‚ Zingesser‚ L.H.‚ et al. (1979). Presenile dementia: clinical aspects and evaluation of cerebrospinal fluid dynamics. Arch Neurol‚ 29:299–308.
Mattis‚ S. (1988). Dementia Rating Scale: professional manual. Odessa‚ Florida: Psychological Assessment Resources‚ 1988.
Smith‚ G.E.‚ Ivnik‚ R.J.‚ Malec‚ J.F‚ et al. (1994). Psychometric properties of the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale. Assessment‚ 1:123–131.
Schmidt‚ R.‚ Freidl‚ W.‚ Fazekas F.‚ et al. (1994). The Mattis Dementia Rating Scale: normative data for 1‚001 healthy volunteers. Neurology‚ 44(5):964–966.
Monsch‚ Andreas U.‚ Bondi‚ Mark W.‚ Salmon‚ David P.‚ et al (1995). Clinical Validity of the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale in Detecting Dementia of the Alzheimer Type : A Double Cross-Validation and Application to a Community-Dwelling Sample. Arch Neurol‚ 52(9):899-904.
Lucas‚ J.A.‚ Ivnik‚ R.J.‚ Smith‚ G.E‚ et al. (1998). Normative data for the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology‚ 20:536–547.
Rilling‚ L.M.‚ Lucas‚ J.A.‚ Ivnik‚ R.J‚ et al. (2005). Mayo’s older African American normative studies: norms for the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale. Clin Neuropsychologist‚ 19:229–242.
McDowell‚ Ian. (2006). Measuring Health: A Guide to Rating Scales and Questionnaires‚ Third Edition. OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
