Philip's Notes to Staff and Parents

About Biting

     Children exhibit several kinds of biting. There are "Play Bites" or "Test Bites" which do not leave marks or break the skin. There are "Aggressive Bites" which do leave marks, break skin or draw blood.

     "Play Bites," like any young child's behavior that doesn't work, offer an immediate learning opportunity for a parent or teacher to redirect and encourage another kind of behavior.  The best redirection when a child "Play Bites" is :  "Be gentle, please..."  instead of, "Don't bite!".  (Encouragement and positive redirection instead of discouragement and negative correction.)

   "Aggressive Biting" is also a learning opportunity for the child, but to positively correct the behavior and encourage another behavior in place of this type of biting, several changes must occur in the way the child is handled by his/her significant adult role models.

    First, an "Aggressive Biter" must be temporarily removed from any situation with peers where serious injury may occur either to the biter or to another child.  An "Aggressive Biter," one who breaks the skin or draws blood or leaves teeth marks on another child, will be asked to leave the center temporarily until a solution is found to his/her behavior.  This is to protect the safety and physical well-being of all the children, our number one priority.  We recommend parents work with a Parent University Behavior Coach to find a solution.

     There are many reasons why children bite. They may be testing or teething, they may have been bitten and are responding or reacting. No matter what the reason for biting, the aggressive biter is not ready to be in a group until he notices his biting behavior.

     Changing any child's behavior that doesn't work is a process that takes a little time. Do not expect a change overnight. However, young children change even radical behaviors that don't work very swiftly in response to positive changes in the way they are handled by their significant role models.

     In changing biting behaviors, it helps to find the most likely cause of the behavior, but when no cause is evident, we can still help the child in the following way:  First, start working with any biting behavior with positive redirection and gentle encouragement of another behavioral alternative ("be gentle, please, use your words...") as soon as the biting behavior starts.  Do not do frequent or lengthy corrections, the child may misunderstand and think the attention is a reward for biting.

     If the biting becomes aggressive and there is no physiological cause for the behavior, such as the child coming down with a cold which is a temporary condition, then a shift in context (how the child is handled by his/her adult role models ) is indicated.  "Aggressive" biting is frequently the result of high tone, negative correction style by an adult role model, either a parent or a teacher, which causes the behavior to become worse and be repeated.

     Parents should be informed that biting is not an unusual behavior with young children as they begin to learn social interaction skills.  "Aggressive" biting is unusual but still a tremendous learning opportunity for the child and the parents!