My DD has definite interoception issues. At 5 1/2 she regularly has what we call little tinkles. She literally starts to pee before she realizes she has to. Getting her to explain what is wrong when she has a headache, sore leg, tummy ache, etc. has been very VERY hard. She doesn't know how to process the feelings let alone articulate them to somebody else. She has always had a very diminished sense of pain. DD also has poor proprioception (knowledge of one's body in space) which has given her problems with balance, delayed walking, gross and fine motor delays, etc. as she struggles to figure out where her arms, legs, hands and feet are in relation to her core. It's also hard for her to make her hands do what her brain wants so writing's been hard to learn for her. She's still making basic marks and crude drawings after a year of intensive therapy.
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Stuff that's helped her interoception and proprioception has included:
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- standing on a variety of textured surfaces to "root" her
- working with different textures with her hands (rice, beans, sand, soft and harder doughs, shaving cream, cornstarch and water, etc)
- finding small items hidden in buckets of rice or small beans
- playing the "feel this" game - putting her hand in a cloth bag and identifying the item inside without looking at it
- doing animal walks - crab, elephant, horse, dog, cat
- talking about how our bodies feel when we're hungry, tired, sick, have to pee, etc.
- brushing her arms and legs with different textures of brushes (there's a whole brushing method out there)
- putting her hands into warm and cold water
- playing with ice cubes and chips
- eating foods at different temperatures
- sucking thick milkshakes and smoothies through a straw
- eating different textures - crunchy noodles that are raw and then soft ones that are cooked, etc
... and more I can't think of right now ...
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