THE AFFOLTER APPROACH

Aarthi A
Bot(2nd yr)
 Introduction

• It is an perceptual cognitive approach developed in Switzerland by Felicia Affolter

• It is focus on facilitating the cognitive perceptual development and the relationship that exist between
tactile –kinesthetic input and problems solving skills in daily life

• Treatment based on functional and age appropriate activities

• Its has been successfully used in the treatment for

Coma recovery

Cerebral vascular accident (CVA)

Traumatic brain injury

Alzheimer’s disease and aging issues

Pervasive Developmental Disorder

Learning disabilities
 Principles

• Relationship between tactile-kinesthetic input and problem solving skills

• Non verbal guiding to facilitate PERCEPTUAL COGNITIVE interaction

• Therapy emphasizes on appropriate input rather than successful output

 Tactile-Kinesthetic system

• It provides the patient with information related to actions and objects Which leads to perceptual
inferences, which are necessary for effective problem solving, which in turn leads to learning and
independence

• The therapist guides the patient’s hand and body non-verbally in functional activities, thus facilitating
patient exploration

• Only the patient hand should come into contact with the object and when the therapist feels the patient
is taking over the movement, the assistance is reduced
 Problems in PERCEPTUAL

• There are 2 typical personality behaviors displayed by individuals with perceptual processing problems are

- hectic

-quite patterns

• Hectic Individual:

- quick, brief actions often combined with constant movement

- evokes labels such as aggressive, hyperactive and tactile

defensive by therapists and care givers

- Difficulties in attending to task

- Release by throwing instead of putting or placing an object down

- Unintentional breakage of objects, frequent hurting of others

- MOVEMENT through free space without use of support as a reference

- Use of one hand instead of two in biannual activities,2 fingers instead of 5 in gross manipulative skills

- Incessant talking, often with poor pragmatic speech

- Difficult in licking and sipping, preference for biting and sucking instead
 QUIET INDIVIDUAL

- Poor initiation

- limited participation ,preference for observing

- Frequent frustration, that leads to lack of self confidence

- Poor orientation to time and space

If the patient needs assistance, the therapist
should use guiding techniques
- Adapting living spaces to suit needs
- Coping with challenges and returning to
routine activities
A patient who is unable to eat independently may
begin to take over the purposeful movement and
start to self-feed during the guiding process.
- Increases eye-hand co-ordination
- Hand-mouth co-ordination
- Oro-motor co-ordination
- Attention and sustained focus on the task
 PRIMARY GOAL OF AFFOLTER APPROACH

• Provide adequate input in searching for information and exploring the environment

• Guiding techniques

• Attention

• Proper positioning

• AS guiding occurs the patient should receive adequate T-K input, it improves perceptual organization

• Eye-hand co-ordination and hand mouth coordination

• Reach, grasp, release, transporting, displacing, filling and emptying through exploration of the environment
facilitates spatial awareness, adaptation of muscle tone and balance reactions
 TREATMENT

• Meaningful activities

• age appropriate activities

• Physically guiding the patient’s hand and bodies in functional activities

The patient able to attend the task, anticipate sequencing, solve problems, adjust muscle tone and
coordination
THANK YOU