After Sariah's latest nursery biting adventure, I got serious and started searching for info. I found a great book on amazon.com called No Biting. It's written for daycare providers, which I thought would be helpful since her biting episodes have occured in group settings. This book is fabulous! If anyone has a toddler who is biting, this book is filled with information and ideas. It is very thorough. It details a myriad of potential causes of biting, many of which I felt could be true for Sariah: devepmental issues, need for sensory stimulation, anxiety in a group situation, seeking for power or control in a group situation where the child is feeling powerless, space issues (too many children in too small a space, or a child feeling her space invaded), seeking attention, not having the skills to handle a conflict situation, etc. etc. The list went on and on. With everything I read, I thought, "Yeah, I could see that."
We've been working on a couple of things. We've been working on skills to give her to use when she's in these triggering situations. Yesterday when we were visiting teaching, she bit a little boy, and while I obviously wasn't happy that it happened, I was glad that I was able to observe the situation and notice some triggers. This boy was totally in her space, and she didn't know how to fend him off. (He was trying to get a toy she had.) So we've been working on using our words. We practiced saying, "Let go of me!" and "Mommy, help!" We progressed to practicing saying, "Sister M____, help!" for use in nursery. Aunt L also suggested that Sariah could learn to push the child away, or to move away herself, so we will be working on that too.
One thing the book said was that children who are biting need more sensory experiences of all types, so we have been playing with playdough, painting, and today, this:
Oh my goodness, did Sariah have fun with these dry beans! I had quite a mess to sweep up off the floor afterward, but it was worth it to see her having such a blast. We got spoons and measuring cups and bowls, and she stirred and poured to her hearts content. I encouraged her to put her hands in the beans and feel them, pick them up, etc. It was so much fun! We've been working on a couple of things. We've been working on skills to give her to use when she's in these triggering situations. Yesterday when we were visiting teaching, she bit a little boy, and while I obviously wasn't happy that it happened, I was glad that I was able to observe the situation and notice some triggers. This boy was totally in her space, and she didn't know how to fend him off. (He was trying to get a toy she had.) So we've been working on using our words. We practiced saying, "Let go of me!" and "Mommy, help!" We progressed to practicing saying, "Sister M____, help!" for use in nursery. Aunt L also suggested that Sariah could learn to push the child away, or to move away herself, so we will be working on that too.
One thing the book said was that children who are biting need more sensory experiences of all types, so we have been playing with playdough, painting, and today, this:
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