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The Friedreichs Ataxia Impact Scale is made up of 126-items and measures eight areas: speech, upper limb functioning, lower limb functioning, body movement, complex tasks, isolation, mood and self perceptions.

 

Three shorter versions are available that were adapted for observational studies, more disabled, and less disabled patients.

 

Strengths: The scale can be shortened to three alternate versions because the item locations of each subscale are calibrated with respect to each other. Any subset of items can be used and generate results that are referable back to the original 126-item scale.

 

Weaknesses: There are four main limitations: 1) the data generated are ordinal rather than interval, 2) scores for people and samples are scale dependent, 3) scale properties such as reliability and validity are sample dependent, and 4) the data are only suitable for group studies, not individual patient assessment.