Biting

[Chelltune]

Do you have a policy of how you react if a child bites another child?

If it has happened in your setting how have the parents of the biten child reacted?

Not a policy but as part of behaviour management.. depends on age of children really.. but we only have over 3s

we find a suitable place trying to make it so that we are not centre of attention for other children. Injured child is given lots and lots of support praise, interaction care etc etc such a fuss made over them in view of other child who is given no attention whatsoever. No eye contact or any sign that they are actually there...this happens so fast that the children really are unaware of how it happens, (often a bit stunned by it)

Any first aid is also given with this fuss.. cuddles. This can take time and the other child is still watching you give all attention to injured party

eventually when injured child is happy and willing to go we deal with the other child.. consequences of what they did, unhappy with how he behaved, made us sad, other child cried and very sad etc. we then allow child to go as it is usually a while since the incident by now!!

Idea being that no interaction for unwanted behaviour but sees the extra attention for other children. Cannot say it always works but this year 2 have not re offended!!

Accident book completed

So far parents have been very good, aware of how it is often impossible to avert , know how we deal with it,

Other problem is child who did the action and reaction of their parent feeling bad about it, trying to make it up to us and other child/parent generally feeling guilty that their child could do such a thing.

After incident children are always observed, and if happens second time we start ABC obs to try and find out why...

Even with high ratios of adults this happens for the simplest of things.. and cannot be averted.

Perhaps now i should ask any particular reason for this question?

[sarahnev707]

I follow my behaviour management policy and escalation strategies, but after dealing with a biter some time ago, I did a lot of research into the subject and put the following section into my behaviour management policy - hope it helps

Biting statement

Biting is a very unpleasant form of behaviour that is particularly prevalent in children whose language skills are developing or who cannot express what they are feeling; some children bite for a reaction

I will follow these procedures in the event of a biting incident –
•comfort the bitten child and administer appropriate first aid;

•speak to the biting child, explain why biting is unacceptable, that it hurts the other child and show the mark or bruise;

•remove the biting child from the play environment for a short time, for reflection ;

•write an accident report for the parents of the bitten child to sign; write an incident report for the parents of the biter to sign;

•discuss the incident privately with the parents of the biter and formulate a strategy;

•evaluate and monitor the situation and work closely with the parents, seeking advice from a Health Visitor if appropriate.

Confidentiality is difficult on this issue, as I often only look after 2 children at once and if one is bitten then the other will, by default, be the biter – please be assured, however, that confidentiality will be maintained as much as possible outside the setting

[DizzyDora]

I like noahs strategy of making 'biter' watch and wait while the bitten child recieves 1st aid, normally for us 1 member of staff deals with 1st aid while the other speaks to the biter. Problematic when only 2 members of staff in! Then the 'biter' is made to apologise to the other child.
Will definatley give noahs idea a go not just for biting but all instances of unacceptable behaviour.

[pixie]

Hi do you have any advice for the parents of the child who is biting?

My friends child has just turned 2 and has started biting, she is in childcare full time as mum is a single parent and trying to making a living, the nursery have said they are going to call the behaviour support group as the child wants all the attention and bites when she is not being given it. The nursery have been quite hard on the mum asking if her and her ex partner have ever been violent in front of her, asking if she stays up watching programs she shouldn't. The manager also said in 15 years of childcare i've never known a 2 year old to be like this and something must be wrong at home. I know the child quite well and to me she's just like a any other 2 year old. They have also informed mum that once behaviour support is involved they will follow her through her school years to.

I was wondering maybe the nursery are not giving her the attection she needs, but am i right in thinking this is abit harsh on the parent??

Any ideas on what i could suggest would be a great help.

It certainly does seem harsh. Most children who bite do so for quite a limited period and I therefore reassure parents that it is a phase their child is passing through. I would expect the nursery to be experienced at dealing with biters and have a number of strategies for dealing with the issue. Whilst the nursery does appear from your post to be acting heavy handed maybe they are wanting to involve the behavioural support team inorder to provide the child with some extra one-to-one support which currently isn't available within the nurseries normal staffing levels and budget. This could be a positive move, it just depends how it is explained and how they go about it.
Sometimes it can be hard for parents to appreciate how 'violent' their children can be when frustrated etc, particularly if they are an only child and the behaviour doesn't crop up at home. The parent needs to keep an open mind and be included in meetings to discuss ongoing strategies. At the end of the day the nursery has a duty to all the children attending.

[cabin]

I have witnessed a serial biter.. and this was in full daycare were inexperienced staff were putting high developmental expectaions on young children resulting in a lot of frustration!. In this case the manger had know idea how to deal with it - simply 'shawdowing' the child - but not actually dealing with the 'whys', resulting in even more biting and frustrations.. whole thing turned into a vicious circle (no pun intended).
I was only agency - but suggested perhaps different more age appropriate activities and lower 'behaviour expectations' might be a good idea - and guess what it worked!! I'm by know means an expert - but I could see that the child was frustrated- something that many of the younger inexperienced staff could not see, and maybe possibly did not have the confidence to challenge bad practice even if they did see it.

Biting is often a developmental phase, but can also be due to communication difficulties, I feel that a simple ABC needs to be done to help assess the reason- could turn out to be as simple as not enough resources at setting or even anothter child instigating the incindents.


xx