Frequent Scoring Errors

Time Frames

The majority of the CANS is scored to reflect the previous 30 days, with some exceptions.

Trauma Experiences Domain

  • Items #1-13 are historically scored. If the child has EVER had a trauma in their life, it should be reflected here. It is not limited to only a trauma-related event that brought the youth in to services.

Child Risk Behaviors Domain

  • A score of 1 generally implies a history of a behavior.
  • A score of 3 generally implies very recent risk behavior.
  • #61, 64, 66, 69 have specific time frames for scoring.

Five and Younger Domain

These items are historical to the child’s time of birth:

  • #77 Birth Weight
  • #78 Prenatal Care
  • #79 Substance Exposure
  • #80 Labor and Delivery
  • #81 Parent and Sibling Problems
  • #82 Maternal Availability

Strengths vs. Needs

All items on the CANS are considered needs except for the trauma experiences and strengths section. It is important to note that the needs are scored on a different set of level definitions than the strengths.

Check out the scoring reminders below:

Needs

For needs, scores of 0 and 1 are generally non-actionable, whereas 2 and 3 indicate a need for some kind of intervention or support in that area.

0 | No evidence or no need for action

1 | Watchful waiting, prevention, history of concern in this area, or a mild degree

2 | Action needed or moderate degree

3 | Immediate action needed or severe degree

Strengths

For strengths, items 20-30, scores of 0 and 1 are considered a useable strength for the youth. Scores of 2 or 3 are considered unusable or still in development.

The strength items are scored using the following levels:

0 | Well-developed strength; immediately accessible by the youth

1 | Useful strength is evident but requires some effort to maximize the strength

2 | Strength has been identified but requires significant strength building efforts before it can be effectively utilized

3 | No current strength is identified; efforts are needed to identify potential strength

N/A | This selection should only be used when rating a child who is non-communicative due to age or developmental disability and no adult can sufficiently answer the item.