The Affolter Model® simply explained

The Affolter Model® was developed in the seventies by Dr. phil. Félicie Affolter and her employees. Dr. Affolter founded the «Foundation Center for Perceptual Disorders» in St. Gallen (Switzerland) (today: Perception.ch Foundation) and «Special school for children with perceptual disorders». The model has been repeatedly revised in recent years and is still being further developed today. The model is anchored in the mission statement of various schools, homes, therapy centers and clinics, particularly in Switzerland, Germany and Denmark.

The development model

For years, the interactions between children with developmental disorders and people with impaired development or after an acquired brain injury were observed and analyzed. The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) funded several research projects over a period of 10 years. On the basis of these analyses and studies, it was possible to make generally valid statements about both inconspicuous and conspicuous development and behavior. From this, a development model was developed. The main statements of this development model can be summarized as follows:

Development is based on an interaction between the person and their environment. This interaction accompanies people throughout their lives. An essential condition for appropriate interactions is the ability to pursue one's own goals and to deal with problems as they arise. This requires the formation of hypotheses and a corresponding organization of the search for information, the change of the type of information and its sources.

The tactile-kinesthetic system («sensing») has an outstanding and leading significance for human development due to its importance within interaction and its relationship to other perceptual systems. The search for sensed information comprises two aspects: on the one hand, the constant search for information about the «WHERE» (body position in space: Where am I? - Where is my environment?) and, on the other hand, the search for information about the «WHAT» (what is happening).

The inconspicuous child interacts with its environment. In doing so, it gathers so-called sensed interaction experiences while solving problems in everyday life. This creates a wealth of experience, which is regarded as the root of development. As the root grows through the expansion of sensed interaction experience, various developmental achievements and stages become apparent. This expresses the fact that there is no direct hierarchical relationship between simpler and more complex achievements or earlier and later stages of development. In this respect, this development model differs significantly from other development models (e.g. partial performance models). Instead, it is assumed that the achievements or stages are directly related to the root.

A wide range of disorders, both congenital and acquired (e.g. following a stroke or traumatic brain injury), are seen in relation to the overall development or overall situation of the person affected and explained from this perspective. For example, disorders in the area of language, in the (re)acquisition of cultural techniques or difficulties that do not (or no longer) allow meaningful coping with everyday life are interpreted as an expression of more comprehensive disorders. These are referred to as disorders of the central organization of perception.

The therapy method (Sensed Interaction Therapy)

Based on this development model, an approach is advocated with which the person concerned is supported in the sensory search for information when solving problems in everyday life. In order to help those affected to better organize their perception and form more appropriate hypotheses, the so-called Affolter method of guidance is used. Guided means that another person (relatives, specialists from different professions) performs the movements to solve the everyday problem together with the person concerned (e.g. unpacking a rucksack, putting on a jacket). Together, relationships between the affected person and the environment are established and explored. The aim is to generate the relevant information so that the person concerned can organize their search for information more appropriately, both about what is happening (WHAT) and about the position of their body in the environment (WHERE). It is often useful and necessary to provide this support in familiar surroundings at home (everyday life).

Based on the experience that the relatives know the child/adults best and can also be most intensively involved in the daily work, great importance is attached to the relatives participating in the therapy. To this end, they are instructed on how to work with the child/adult at home. The cooperation with the parents/relatives is based on a partnership relationship in which trust should grow and be nurtured.

Affolter Model®

The development model

The therapy method (Sensed Interaction Therapy)

The method is used for: