Amy*, the director of a North Ridgeville daycare center, reached out to PEP Early Childhood Plus because she had a major problem on her hands. One of the children in the toddler room, an 18-month-old named Charlotte*, was biting her classmates – and it wasn’t just occasionally – it was several times a day. Despite their best efforts at the center, nothing was working to reduce the behavior.
Charlotte was the third child from her family to attend the daycare center, and Amy had a strong relationship with the family. At the same time, the parents of Charlotte’s classmates were urging the director to expel the toddler. They were understandably concerned about their children being bitten. Amy didn’t want to ask the family to remove the child, but she understood the other parents’ concerns.
Iselin Dimacchia, an infant and early childhood mental health consultant at PEP, began working with the daycare center to address the problem.
“I get called in a lot for developmentally appropriate behavior that is difficult to deal with like pushing, hitting and tantrums,” she explained. “To adults, biting feels shocking and is very upsetting. It feels violent in a way that other toddler behavior doesn’t, but it is developmentally appropriate. That doesn’t mean you don’t address it, but it does mean you need to reframe it.”
When a PEP Early Childhood Plus consultant like Iselin works with a daycare center, they often implement several interventions that work together to make a difference. That was the case with the North Ridgeville daycare center.
Iselin began by providing educational information to the parents of all the children in the classroom about biting, helping them understand it better. The information explained that biting at 18-months is a developmentally appropriate behavior – though one that needs to be addressed – and that strategies could be implemented to help.
She also conducted an observation of the classroom to assess what might be behind the behavior and made a few key observations. First, there was only one teacher in the classroom, and she would sometimes do one-on-one activities with one child while the other children played by themselves. Second, Charlotte was very young and hadn’t developed much language yet, which meant she could not easily express her needs. Iselin noticed that when the teacher’s attention was with another child and Charlotte became frustrated, she would handle that situation by biting. From Charlotte’s point of view, the biting worked perfectly. Suddenly, she was getting a lot of attention and whatever challenge frustrated her was forgotten.
Another observation Iselin made was the adults’ reactions to biting. “Because biting can be so upsetting to adults, we often make a big deal out of it,” said Iselin. “We’ll stop what we’re doing and immediately correct the child. We have big emotions and the child notices that. They get a lot of attention, even if it’s not positive attention.”
Iselin says this type of adult reaction is very common with undesirable behavior. She gave the example of a group of children playing with blocks on the floor. When one child throws a block at another child, the adults often pay attention to the youngster who was the offender, instead of the children who were playing nicely. Since children often like the intensity of the reaction, being deliberate about the intensity of your reaction to desirable behavior can cause a real shift in behavior over time.
Iselin recommended some new strategies to the childcare center and the family. First, in the classroom, unless there is a second teacher, activities should involve all the children. That would ensure that Charlotte received the support she needed when she became frustrated. Second, Iselin suggested the adults start “noticing” the things they wanted the little girl to do and increase the intensity of that recognition. “You might say, ‘Oh Charlotte! I loved how you came and sat on the mat all by yourself!’” said Iselin.
In addition, to reduce Charlotte’s frustration, Iselin recommended the family also provide Charlotte with more information about what to expect at certain times – especially times that might be triggers for biting. For example, when Charlotte’s mom took another sibling to do an activity, she would explain what was happening to Charlotte, so the youngster knew what to predict. She might say something like, “I am going to brush your sister’s hair now and when I am finished, we will read a book together.”
With these strategies in place – and with Charlotte’s blossoming vocabulary and her growing ability to communicate – the biting behavior died down. Only a few weeks after the interventions began, Charlotte went for one whole week without biting any of her peers.
Charlotte's success was the result of targeted interventions and the willingness of all the adults in her life — her family and the childcare staff — to work together to address the problem. As for the other families who had been pushing for Charlotte's removal from the center, their concerns have since been put to rest.
It's a good reminder that when it comes to challenging behavior in young children, it often doesn't take a dramatic overhaul to make a meaningful difference. Small, intentional shifts in how adults respond can change the dynamic significantly. That's what PEP Early Childhood Plus Consultation is designed to help childcare providers and families do. Charlotte's story shows what's possible when they do it together.
Learn More
PEP Early Childhood Plus offers Child Care Consultation at no cost to childcare providers and preschools in Cuyahoga, Lorain and Summit Counties.** For more information, contact Jim Flynn, director, Early Childhood Plus at 216-361-7760 ext. 142 or via email.
*Not their real names
**PEP provides these services in Cuyahoga County thanks to funding from Starting Point and in Lorain and Summit Counties thanks to funding from the Ohio Department of Children and Youth.