ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE INTEROCEPTIVE AWARENESS
Triveni Goswami Vernal
(Registered Special Educator: A64010)

Interoception refers to the collection of senses that provide information regarding internal states of the body – such as hunger, thirst, need for urination/defecation, feeling of fullness, experience of various emotions, feeling of pain etc.   The previous blog (https://specialsaathi.com/2024/09/12/interoception-body-awareness-and-autism-part-1/) provided an overview of Interoception and spoke about how Interoceptive Awareness was often a challenge in individuals on the Autism spectrum.

So how can Interoceptive Awareness be improved in individuals? Since interoception is such a vast area, the activities will differ but the blog will shed light on a few activities:

1) CREATING INTEROCEPTIVE AWARENESS REGARDING THE NEED FOR URINATION/DEFECATION: An individual may experience the following during their need to use the toilet—
a) Feeling of tightness in the stomach
b) Feeling of slight pressure in the stomach
c) Sudden need to run to the toilet
      How can one work on creating awareness regarding these bodily sensations? The blog https://funandfunction.com/blog/four-strategies-to-improve-toileting-through-interoception provides 4 strategies to improve toileting through interoception:
a) Model Interoceptive Awareness:  Verbalize how it feels when you need to use the bathroom—the tightness in your tummy, or a sense of pressure that brings on the urgency. 
b) Ask your child how they feel: Likewise, encourage the child to verbalize how they feel. If the child uses an AAC device, one can use that as well to communicate how they feel when they want to use the toilet. Recognizing and being aware of the internal bodily sensations can help them in the long run.
c) Adapt to your child’s needs: Initially a visual schedule may help create a structure around when to use the toilet. Social Stories may also help.
d) Play the emotion identification game: One can create a game to associate the bodily sensations that accompany emotions that are experienced. This will help them create associations between sensations and emotions.

2) CREATING BODY AWARENESS: Body awareness plays an important role in understanding how various parts of the body experience sensations differently. Body Awareness can be created through fun games such as,
a) Simon Says: Simon Says touch your head/stomach/toes etc
b) Obstacle Course: One can create an obstacle course either indoors or outdoors.
c) Follow the Leader: Similar to Simon Says, the child has to mimic the action of another person, as they make movements with their body.
d) Play Hopscotch
e) Dance to action songs
f) Balancing on a disk /beam
g) Jumping Rope etc

3) IMPROVING EMOTIONAL REGULATION:
a) Positive Affirmations
b) Yoga
c) Practicing Mindfulness
d) Breathing exercises.
e) Engage in writing a Journal
f) Be more self-aware. Knowing when not to react.
g) Writing about emotions
h) Physical exercises/sports
i) Take some time out when you get overwhelmed with emotions
j) Mindful Colouring
k) Creating Art

4) PROPRIOCEPTIVE ACTIVITIES
a) Climbing
b) Crawling
c) Crab walking
d) Lifting heavy objects
e) Jumping Jacks
f) Yoga
g) Jumping workouts
h) Jumping on the Trampoline
i) Tug of War etc.

5) CREATING AWARENESS ON RELAXATION AND TENSION IN MUSCLES: Tension in muscles is often a sign of stress. It is important to teach individuals to recognize what tension in muscles can feel like. For this, teaching them to do various stretches can help.  Foot stretch is a good example. Instruct the child to stretch one’s feet as far down and then up, as possible and then provide feedback on how that stretch felt. Working on a Stationary Bike is another example of teaching the child to be more aware of an increase in heart beat and feelings of muscle tension, and then feeling relaxed, when the rotations in the cycling comes down.

Thus, we see that activities to create Interoceptive Awareness can vary greatly but depending on what the area of focus is, we can tailor the activities to target that area, specifically.     

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Author Triveni Goswami Vernal

Triveni Goswami Vernal is an Autism advocate, registered Special Educator (CRR A64010) and an Independent Researcher. Her areas of interest include Autism, Disability Rights, Gender, Art and Northeast studies. She is a mum to an 12 year old on the Autism Spectrum.

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Atwork- ‘Landscape Patterns‘
Acrylic Painting on Watercolour Paper
Artist Kabir Vernal