As experts in human communication, speech therapists have an incredibly profound role in supporting the language development of the clients and students they support. Speech therapists help kids learn to communicate a wide variety of messages, including how they feel and what they need. However, many speech therapists have never heard of the term interoception. Nicknamed the ‘8th sense’, interoception helps us to perceive a wide variety of sensations in our body. For example, a growling stomach, full bladder, relaxed muscles, dry mouth, sore ears, pounding heart, and sweaty skin, are all sensations you might experience because of interoception. These interoceptive sensations provide vital clues to what emotion or body needs we are feeling, including thirst, hunger, sleepiness, need for the toilet, pain, body temperature, anxiety, or excitement. Because interoception helps us know and understand how our body feels, it is the first step to successfully regulating and communicating our needs and emotions.
Although we don’t generally think about it this way, interoceptive body sensations are what actually give concrete meaning to emotion words. We come to understand what these words mean based on our inner body sensations or signals. For example, how does frustrated feel to you? For me, it’s when my shoulder and face muscles feel tense, my ears have a buzzing sensation, and my brain feels stuck. For another person, it might mean their body starts to feel hot, their voice gets loud, and their brain feels like a rock. Interoceptive sensations help us learn the concept of emotion words; in other words we learn emotions from the inside out.
The Gap in Current Approaches
Given that interoceptive sensations help define emotion words for each of us and that this journey is different for each of us, perhaps the way we have been teaching emotion words is backward.
As SLPs, we may use flashcards, emotion bingo games, and emotion role-playing. We may label feelings for others based on what their body is displaying; for example, a smile means happy, crying means sadness, or yelling means anger. We are assuming that a specific facial expression, body movement/position, or tone of voice always relates to the same emotion. But because emotions are associated with different interoceptive sensations in different people, the techniques we tend to use may not accurately help our clients or students understand how they are feeling. And if our clients do not understand how they are feeling, how can they advocate for what they need?
Unfortunately, despite our best intentions, we may be missing the mark when it comes to targeting social-emotional communication with our clients. Consider a scenario where a child is screaming and throwing things, and another is quietly crying. Mislabeling their emotions as ‘mad’ and ‘sad’ respectively might overlook the shared experience of frustration. This mislabeling has the potential to confuse and hinder our clients’ ability to describe their bodily sensations and advocate for their needs effectively.
Objective Labeling
- One method is to describe exactly what you see your client doing without attaching your own interpretations or assumptions about their underlying emotions.
- You acknowledge and state what is physically happening without making subjective judgments.
- For example, saying “I see that you’re crying” describes the observable behavior of crying without assigning a specific emotional label to it.
- This approach allows us to open a conversation about the individual’s experience without imposing our opinion about how they are feeling.
- It promotes a more accurate and individualized understanding of the person’s emotional state.
“I Wonder” Statements
- “I wonder” statements are open-ended prompts used to encourage exploration of and reflection on an individual’s feelings, experiences, or needs without making assumptions.
- In the context of speech therapy and interoception, these statements aim to promote self-awareness and communication.
- By getting curious about what your client is experiencing and helping them become more curious about their own sensations and perceptions, you are creating a space for them to share their thoughts, sensations, or emotions, fostering a more open and collaborative dialogue between the two of you.
- For example, you can say, I wonder what your body is telling you right now” or “I wonder if ____ or ____ would help your body right now.”
- Using “I wonder” statements also avoids asking a direct question, which can be hard or triggering for some of our clients.
Descriptive Language Models
- By introducing a diverse range of adjectives, such as hot/cold, wet/dry, and sticky/slimy, SLPs can create an avenue for clients to articulate the intricate nuances of their internal sensations.
- This serves to expand their vocabulary as well as encourage a more precise and personalized expression of their feelings and nurture a sense of curiosity to explore and communicate their unique sensory experiences.
- For example, a speech therapy session during which a client explores how it feels to touch warm and cool water serves not only to teach descriptive words such as “hot,” “cold,” “warm,” etc., but may also give opportunity for the client to recognize that specific bodily sensations align with particular emotions for them.
- For instance, they might recognize the feeling of warm water on their skin evokes a feeling of calm or safety, while the sensation of cold water might startle them, similar to their feeling of fear.
The Influence of Interoception on Language and Communication: Lessons from Alexithymia
Alexithymia is characterized by the difficulty in identifying, understanding, and expressing one’s own emotions. Individuals with alexithymia often struggle to distinguish between various emotional states and may find it challenging to communicate their feelings to others. This trait can impact emotional regulation and overall well-being.
Research has found that alexithymics often experience unclear interoceptive awareness. This fact makes a lot of sense, given that our interoceptive body signals provide us with valuable information about our affective and homeostatic emotions. If there is a disconnect with these interoceptive body signals, then emotional clues we need might be missing or unreliable.
When it comes to understanding and communicating how we feel, working towards a clearer interoceptive experience is key. Therefore, incorporating interoception activities into speech and language therapy can effectively support clients with alexithymia and improve emotional awareness and communication.
Learn More with Our Interoception Resources
The most important thing to remember when providing interoception-based supports, is that there is no wrong way to feel, and there is no wrong way to translate or communicate the way we feel. The Interoception Curriculum provides a framework that can help speech and language therapists explore each client’s unique interoceptive experience and, in collaboration, nurture their ability to notice, connect, regulate, and communicate their unique interoceptive signals.
Cultivating a connection with the interoceptive sense can be important, but hard work. Check out out my YouTube video, Interoception: The Keys to Emotion and Human Connection. By using our interoception resources in your speech and language therapy, you can help your clients notice body signals and connect their body signals to the meaning (emotion). Our interoception resources assist individuals who struggle with identifying and expressing their emotions in gaining a better comprehension of their feelings. Try out these resources for yourself today!
