Most of us are well versed in the five senses. It is easy to relate and find examples of touch, taste, sight, smell, and hearing. Yet as therapists, we care deeply about understanding those senses that are less commonly discussed in daily life: our vestibular, proprioceptive, and interoceptive systems. These senses play a vital role in our body’s synchronicity and contribute immensely to our ability to self-regulate.
Defining Interoception
The interoceptive system acts as an internal alert system, helping our bodies detect internal sensations such as thirst, hunger, temperature, and emotions. When in balance, this nuanced sense allows our bodies the appropriate responses to stay in balance. This internal system signals our response to stimuli at hand and allows us to act accordingly in a way that is directly tied to our ability to self-regulate.
Self-Regulation and Interoception
While the interoceptive system is still not as well studied as other sensory systems it plays a vital role in triggering sensations in our pediatric clients. When children are unable to identify an internal stimulus or understand how to respond to the sensation they are experiencing; outbursts, frustration, aversions, etc, can be the resulting external behavior that manifests.
Practical Activities and Treatment Ideas:
Below are some practical activities and treatment ideas that can assist in learning and developing an individual's interoceptive system. Many exercises listed are also downloadable resources that can be found in our Ambiki Resource Library.
5 Interoception Ideas:
1. Emotion Matching
Using activities that match emotions and link them to internal sensations can be incredibly helpful for allowing a child to get to know how their own internal sensations correlate to outward expressions. Give Kiki’s Mood Match a try which helps correlate where we each experience emotions in our own bodies.
Found on Ambiki:Kiki's Mood Match
2. Yoga
Yoga’s focus on the inner body encourages attention on the present and the internal sensations an individual is experiencing. In addition, it provides both vestibular and proprioceptive input which is useful in integrating the interoceptive system. Create your own flow sequence or visit our Ambiki Library for multiple yoga options tailored to pediatric clients.
3. Playing with Temperature
Pediatric clients who struggle with interoception can often experience challenges with temperature regulation. This can carry over into planning and knowing how to dress appropriately/what actions to take when the weather changes. Practicing with engaging exercises can assist with developing this skill. A great resource for this (which has supplemental materials that can also be used) is ‘Dressing Weather Appropriate’.
Find on Ambiki: Dress Weather Appropriate
4. Feeling Emotions: How Do Different Emotions Feel?
Talking about, tracking, and learning how different emotions feel can aid immensely in cultivating interoception. A great resource at Ambiki regarding body listening and talking about emotions can be found here : Body Listening
5. Heavy work
Heavy work activities can be included in daily tasks such as: carrying groceries into the house, pushing a full grocery cart, climbing up a slide, or carrying packages into the home. Many children crave proprioceptive input and because our proprioceptive and interoceptive systems are so intertwined, focusing on this can assist with fine tuning our body’s ability to listen to its internal cues.
Takeaways:
Our bodies and brains are immensely complex and vastly differ from one another.
Cultivating a genuine sense of curiosity for what our pediatric clients are experiencing at an internal level and how those stimuli generate an external response can assist us in tailoring our sessions to the uniqueness of that individual.
Please take advantage of the abundant resources Ambiki has to offer to assist in guiding your practice to what is right for you and your clientele.
