Inertia and Interoception
- toddlerswithtism
- Nov 30, 2023
- 4 min read
The difference between Autistic Inertia & Interoception:
Autistic inertia is difficulty beginning, ending, and transitioning between tasks and activities. Whereas Interoception is the ability to sense, identify and differentiate emotions, sensations and needs.
The mix between the two can make it even more difficult to perform simple daily activities like eating, drinking and going to the bathroom. Even if the brain recognizes the need, getting the body to begin the task to accomplish the need can prove to be extremely difficult.
Sometimes an Autistic individual may feel stuck in an inactive state, like time has slowed down. Difficulty finding the first step or the ending point can also contribute to getting stuck. It seems that an Autistic in motion stays in motion and an Autistic at rest stays at rest.
Intelligence has nothing to do with any of this. It can affect Autistic individuals regardless of intellect or learning abilities.
Inertia:
Inertia refers to difficulty stopping, starting and changing tasks.
Understanding Inertia: Once the task has begun, it's not difficult to keep going. But starting or stopping the task can be extremely challenging. Any disruption once started could derail a task completely. The ability to suspend or pause an activity and immediately return (or jump back in) to it can be just as difficult as starting to begin with. This can make Autistic individuals reluctant to even begin. Additionally, they sometimes might avoid engaging in certain activities for fear of being unable to break away when they want to. It's not necessarily that they don't want to start or stop an activity. As this struggle is associated with tasks that are fun and of interests to them as well. It's that they literally cannot figure out how or their brain cannot convince their body to cooperate. This could impact several things in day to day life that you wouldn't even consider a task to push yourself to do; such as, eating, drinking, sleeping, washing your hands, going to the bathroom.
What can I do to help: Acknowledging and reassuring them that it's not their fault they are experiencing this struggle may help them to not feel bad about their inability to easily start or end a task. Sometimes a constant routine, alarms, timers, story boards and other visual reminders can be helpful, but not in all cases. You can also try to gently remind verbally "it's time to eat". Breaking up a task into small, miniscule steps can be helpful. Example, it's time to leave the house. First we get our shoes. Then we put one on. Then the other. Next we grab our jacket. Slide one arm in. Then the other. Now we close up our jacket, zip it up. Ok, let's open the door. Step outside, breathe. Ok, time to go. People who experience this explain the most useful tool to overcome the inertia is having a caregiver there to help them through it. Explaining how to accomplish the task may help a person to more easily begin the task. Having all the information up front can be reassuring. Having everything required to complete the task within reach is a good way to prevent the derailment of a task. The inability to start or stop a task does not mean the individual is lazy or non-compliant. It means they struggle and it could be associated with Autistic Inertia. If someone is experiencing this, allowing for adding time for activities and extended breaks in between can be helpful to prevent exhaustion, meltdowns and shutdowns.
Interoception:
Interoception is a sense that allows one to notice their internal body signals like a growling stomach, racing heart, tense muscles or a full bladder. When noticed, the brain uses these body signals as cues to react.
Understanding Interoception: Interception helps one to feel many important things including: hunger, fullness, pain, illness, thirst, body temperature, sleepiness, need for bathroom, anger, anxiety, distraction, focus, calm, boredom and sadness.
Differences in Interoception are very common and can lead to challenges in identifying exactly how one feels. Common signs of Interoception differences can include difficulty with one or more of the following: recognizing when hungry, full or thirsty, or need to go to the bathroom. Toilet training proves to be a great challenge in this situation. As difficulty with Interoception means one doesn’t recognize the cues for needing to go.
This also impacts the ability to identifying when they are sleepy, overly sensitive or not sensitive enough to pain, pinpointing symptoms of illness, identifying emotions in self, identifying emotions in others, recognizing signs of distress, and the ability to independently use coping strategies during times of distress.
What can I do to help: To improve interoceptive awareness, we need to help children think about their bodies. Things that could help are: - a body check chart, showing them different senses they may feel throughout their body - drawing feelings on a chart using different colors for each feeling - identifying what signals they can feel after an activity - develop a sensory activity schedule and discussing the feeling after each activity - Occupational Therapy is recommended to assist with Interoception needs
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