Interoception is a lesser-known sense that helps you understand and feel what’s going on inside your body. Kids who struggle with the interoceptive sense may have trouble knowing when they feel hungry, full, hot, cold, or thirsty. Having trouble with this sense can also make self-regulation a challenge.

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Interoception is contemporarily defined as the sense of the internal state of the body. This can be both conscious and non-conscious. Interoceptive signals are projected to the brain via a diversity of neural pathways that allow for the sensory processing and prediction of internal bodily states.

What is the Interoceptive System? The Interoceptive system gives us the ability to feel what is happening inside our body. It has special nerve receptors all over our bodies including our internal organs, bones, muscles and skin. These receptors send information to the brain which uses it to determine how we feel.

The vestibular system refers to structures within the inner ear (the semi-circular canals) that detect movement and changes in the position of the head. For example, the vestibular system tells you when your head is upright or tilted (even with your eyes closed).

Vestibular stimming uses a person’s sense of movement and balance. It may include repetitive behaviors such as: rocking front to back or side to side. spinning.

Stimming – or self-stimulatory behaviour – is repetitive or unusual body movement or noises. Stimming might include: hand and finger mannerisms – for example, finger-flicking and hand-flapping. posturing – for example, holding hands or fingers out at an angle or arching the back while sitting.

Stimming is almost always present in people on the autism spectrum but does not necessarily indicate its presence. The biggest difference between autistic and non-autistic stimming is the type of stim and the quantity of stimming.