I have a little boy in my class who bites. This is a serious issue for me in the classroom because he bites randomly and at no specific time of the day. I did some research on biting and wanted to share what I found.
Why children bite: young children may bite due to frustration, anger, or in an attempt to gain control over another child. The young child may also be feeling powerless or frightened, or he/she may just be overtired. In some cases, the child may be making an inappropriate bid for attention from child care provider, Snuggs, C, Controlling biting in Daycare, July 3, 2007.
Biting is another oral behavior which usually persist normally 8into the second year, Dr. Carl Arinoldo parenting expert and author of Essentials of Smart Parenting: Learning the Fine Art of Managing your Children.
There is not sound research that provides a sound clinical strategy to prevent biting. It is suggested that when I child bites teach him/her that it is inappropriate behvior. Treat the victim and have biter assist in the first aid process. Firmly but gently inform biter that biting hurts and it should not continue. It is also important to protect the victim from future attacks. During group activities isolate the biter as much as possible.
I agree that biting within the classroom setting is definitely a serious issue. Not only is it painful and usually leaves a mark, but when it breaks the skin it also becomes a health and safety issue. When I’ve experience biting within the classroom it is usually from children who are unable to express the way they are feeling in words due to language barriers, or speech impediments. When I worked in head start we used a system called Second step that would illustrate healthy ways of expressing anger through puppet play and large picture display cards.
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