Connecting My Body Signals: A Science Lab Adventure (Book #2)

Description

What’s Inside the Book

Connecting My Body Signals is Book #2 in the My Body Signals series.

This 76-page interactive storybook explores what body signals might mean for each person through hands-on experiments, reflection, creativity, and discussion. Designed to be read in parts—whatever fits a reader’s attention span or time available—each page invites readers to pause, reflect, and explore the many ways humans make meaning of body signals.

Join Dr. Curious, Vic, Jo, Todd, Claire, and their classmates as they continue exploring the world of body signals together. This time, the class begins exploring a deeply important idea:

Body signals can hold meaning…but those meanings may look different for different people. For example, a fast heartbeat might mean excitement, fear, movement, overwhelm, sickness, or something else entirely. Watery eyes might mean sadness, allergies, laughter, tiredness, pain, or bright lights.

While emotions are explored throughout the story, Dr. Curious never tells kids what they “should” feel or insists that everyone must use emotion words to understand themselves. Instead, readers are invited to explore meaning in ways that feel authentic to them through emotions, colors, animals, movement, weather, art, sounds, or something completely unique.

Blending story, science, and flexible learning experiences, the book creates opportunities for communication, self-understanding, and connection. Whether read at bedtime, during classroom reflection, or in a therapy session, Connecting My Body Signals transforms reading moments into opportunities for meaningful conversation and deeper understanding.

About the My Body Signals Series

The My Body Signals series is a 3-part interactive journey through interoception, our sense of what’s happening inside our bodies.

Each book explores a different stage of interoception learning through story, hands-on experiments, reflection, and curiosity-based discussion.

• Book #1: Noticing My Body Signals focuses on noticing and describing body signals.
• Book #2: Connecting My Body Signals explores what body signals might mean for each person.
• Book #3: Regulating My Body Signals (forthcoming) will explore caring for body signals with individualized supports and strategies.

While each book can be enjoyed independently, together they create a deeper journey into body awareness and self-understanding.

What’s Included

Each purchase includes the complete Connecting My Body Signals experience:

• 76-page full-color interactive storybook with experiments, reflection prompts, drawings, and story-based learning
• Bonus on-demand course where Kelly & Maddie share reading tips, practical ideas for using the book, and the heartfelt “why” behind the story (runtime: 45 minutes)
• Bonus activity booklet (PDF) with additional interoception learning activities to extend the exploration beyond the story
• Letter to Families that can be used by professionals reading the book with children (e.g., classroom teachers, therapists, counselors, etc.). The letter explains the purpose of the book and offers simple ways to continue exploring body signals and emotions through everyday moments of curiosity and connection.

Why This Book Matters

Helps readers explore “emotions” without rigid rules.

Connecting My Body Signals supports emotional exploration without telling readers what emotions are “supposed” to feel like or insisting everyone must use emotion words to understand themselves.

Celebrates inner diversity.

Throughout the story, readers discover that the same body signal can mean different things for different people and that all experiences deserve curiosity, respect, and validation.

Expands how inner experiences can be expressed.

Characters communicate their experiences through words, colors, animals, movement, weather, art, gestures, sounds, and more, showing there are many valid ways to understand and express what is happening inside.

Gives adults a framework for better understanding a child’s inner world.

The interactive discussions and experiments help adults move from assuming and guessing toward collaborative exploration and deeper understanding.

Creates meaningful conversations between kids and adults.

The story naturally opens the door to conversations many adults and children were never taught how to have about emotions, body signals, needs, and inner experiences.

Supports curiosity-based emotional understanding.

Rather than memorizing emotional “correct answers,” readers are encouraged to explore patterns, context, body clues, and personal meaning-making over time.

Extends and deepens learning from The Interoception Curriculum.

While a standalone resource, Book #2 aligns closely with Section 2 of The Interoception Curriculum, offering additional practice with meaning-making and emotional exploration.

Adds to inclusive, neuro affirming practice.

The story models flexibility, validation, creativity, and self-discovery while honoring that there is no single “right” way to experience being human.

Who This Book Is For

Designed for adults and kids to discover together, Connecting My Body Signals creates a shared space to explore emotions, body signals, and inner experiences one page, pause, and experiment at a time.

It’s a valuable tool for:

• Parents and caregivers who want to better understand their child’s unique inner world
• Therapists, educators, counselors, and school teams seeking an engaging, story-based way to support emotional understanding and interoception
• Professionals using The Interoception Curriculum who want a companion resource for Section 2 concepts
• Individuals of any age who want to better understand the relationship between body signals, emotions, and personal experiences

No matter your role or familiarity with interoception, this book invites curiosity, reflection, communication, and connection.

How to Use This Book

There is no single “right” way to read Connecting My Body Signals nor any prep required, only curiosity. It is flexible enough to fit into real life, whether that is a few pages at bedtime, circle time, counseling sessions, classroom discussions, or therapy sessions.

Pause to try the experiments, reflect together, draw, discuss, or model wondering aloud. Each reading becomes an opportunity to better understand body signals, emotions, and inner experiences together. Over time, these shared moments can help strengthen communication, self-understanding, empathy, and body trust.

About the Authors

I’m the mom, Kelly Mahler (OT), and this series began with my daughter, Maddie.

After experiencing situations where emotions were treated as fixed “correct answers,” Maddie became passionate about creating books that made space for inner diversity and self-discovery instead.

Now 16, Maddie continues to bring creativity, insight, humor, and heart into every part of this series. Her lived experiences, reflections, and advocacy deeply shaped the ideas explored throughout Connecting My Body Signals.

Together, we created this story to help readers explore an important truth:

Body signals can hold meaning, but those meanings may look different for different people.

Our hope is that every child (and adult) who opens this book feels invited to stay curious about their inner world and knows they deserve to be believed in what they discover.