Tri-State Webinar: Interoception, The 8th Sense: Impact on Self-Regulation, Mental Health & Social Connection

Webinar Description

Interoception is an important sensory system that helps us to feel internal body signals like a full bladder, growling stomach, tense muscles, or speeding heart. Research indicates that our ability to clearly notice and interpret these internal body signals enables us to accurately identify and manage how we feel: Are we anxious? getting frustrated? hungry? full? in pain? needing the bathroom? Interoceptive differences are very common in a variety of students including those with autism, but also in co-occurring or stand-alone conditions such as trauma and attachment disorders, sensory processing disorder, ADHD, anxiety, depression, and behavioral challenges. Interoception is emerging as a key factor in the development of emotional well-being and healing from trauma. Given the potential impact of the current pandemic on areas such as regulation and mental health, understanding interoception is more important than ever. This webinar will provide an overview of what the latest research tells us about interoception as well as how to apply this evidence when supporting students. A systematic evidence-based approach for assessing and supporting interoception will be shared with a focus on The Interoception Curriculum. 

Learner Objectives

After attending this webinar participants will:

1. Define and understand interoception, our 8th sensory system.
2. Understand the latest research foundations of interoception and describe the impact it has on regulation, emotional well-being and social connections.
3. Identify at least 1 method for assessing interoception.
4. Identify evidence-based strategies for building interoception.
5. Describe methods for adapting interoception-building strategies to meet the needs of each unique learner.

Presenter Information

Kelly Mahler has been an occupational therapist for 17 years, serving school-aged children and adults. She is actively involved in several research projects pertaining to interoception and has published 7 books on a variety of topics related to social and emotional growth.

Kelly’s mission centers around helping people flourish by changing the way we view what is often called ‘challenging, disruptive or purposeful’ behavior. She wants to inspire people to think differently, dig

deeper and discover what is at the root cause of the behaviors we may observe. If we can do this, we can provide more effective, meaningful supports so that our clients, students, and loved ones can flourish.

Certificate of Completion:

To earn a Certificate of Completion/Attendance for an archived Tri-State Webinar:

1. View the archived webinar on our Moodle site
2. Submit responses to the Study Questions (on Moodle)
3. A Certificate of Completion will automatically be populated. Download and/or print.

Click here for instructions of how to create a Moodle Account.

To log into Moodle go to http://moodle.tasnatbs.org. 

The webinars are listed by category and alphabetical order. The category for this webinar is Sensory.