Therapy: Interoception 

Students at Naranga School have had a great start to the year learning about interoception. Interoception is a sense we have in our body, which lots of people have not heard of! This is a whole school program, which all students participate in throughout the year.

Interoception is our awareness of our internal body signals and understanding what they mean. Interoception helps us to know how we are feeling, such as when we feel hungry, when we feel happy or sad or when we need to go to the toilet. This sense helps us to look after ourselves and understand how we are feeling.

Students across the school have been working with their teachers, ES and the therapy team to explore how different body parts are feeling. Students have been engaging in fun experiments in their classes - such as putting their hands in warm water or stamping their feet - and have been practicing describing how this makes their body feel.

Things to try at home:

• When you are eating something yummy - how does this make your mouth feel?
• When you are listening to your favourite song - how does this make your ears feel?
• When you are outside walking in the sun - how do your cheeks feel?

When we think about how our body feels, we can understand what emotion or feeling we are experiencing, then we can decide what to do about it. This is part of self-regulation.

Students at Naranga are doing a fantastic job at listening to their bodies and understanding what their bodies are telling them. This is a skill students (and staff and families!) will be able to use forever. 

The Naranga Therapy Team