Recent breakthroughs in embodied cognition research are revitalizing how we approach school-based occupational therapy—as well opening new therapeutic doors for physical therapists, speech/language pathologists, and mental health professionals. Therapists across disciplines are now integrating interoceptive awareness, emotion regulation, movement, and environmental adaptation strategies to support learning and mental health in both general and special education settings.
💡 What Is Embodied Cognition? Embodied cognition is the evidence-based theory that bodily experiences—movement, sensory experiences, and feelings influence learning, language and thinking. In schools this specifically involves:
· Demonstration, movement, gesture, and hands-on experiences supporting academic learning
· Touch, imitation, and mindfulness activities to improve attention & self-regulation
· Emotionally engaging and sensory-aware environments can improve mental health
Research: Ahn (2022), Shapiro & Stolz (2019), Aziz-Zadeh et al. (2018), Sung et al. (2024)
🧠 Why does this matter for therapists? Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), trauma histories, and mental health conditions often struggle with:
· Basic Body Awareness (Knowing where there hand is by feeling it on their body)
· Emotional regulation (Appropriately managing “big feelings”)
· Interoceptive awareness (Knowing what’s happening inside their body)
· Sensory processing (Over and under-sensitivity to sensory stimuli)
· Executive functioning (Sustained attention to learning activities)
Embodied cognition offers practical, research-backed interventions that therapists can implement directly in schools including:
Awareness of their triggers for dysregulation
Mindfulness (Deep slow breathing)
& Coping Strategies (exercise, pushups)
🔧 New Strategies You Can Use!!!
🌬️ Self-tapping & Self-pressing for Body Awareness for Adolescents and Young Adults (Weng et al., 2021; Proff et al., 2022) https://lnkd.in/eHT4e3yG
🤲 Self hug & squeeze, Mindful clock sitting & standing, Kindness (Gerbarg & Brown, 2024)
🧘 Roll a therapy ball core progression https://lnkd.in/e9ymJSmH
🧘 Interoceptive body awareness training for Trigger Awareness & Applying effective coping strategies (Sung et al., 2024; Mahler et al., 2022)
🤲 Therapist massage body awareness developing the capacity for mindfulness (Weng et al., 2021)
🔁 Environmental adaptations to promote sensory modulation (Tancredi et al., 2021; Schmitt & Schoen, 2022)
🔍 What’s the research say? Students with developmental and sensory challenges respond best to interventions that are:
✅ Emotionally engaging
✅ Embedded in daily routines
✅ Adapted to their sensory profile and interoceptive capacity
—Schmitt & Schoen (2022), Brown & Dunn (2023)
🔧 Further related resources regarding this research
👉 Let’s connect! JLP96007@gmail.com
🔗 https://fabstrategies.org/
