Biting. (ERIC/EECE Report).

This column summarizes recent ERIC documents and journal articles, and highlights some World Wide Web resources, that discuss issues related to the problem of children biting in preschool. For details about ERIC and ordering ERIC documents, please see the information following these abstracts.

ERIC Documents

ED391589

SO THIS IS NORMAL TOO? Teachers and Parents Working Out Developmental Issues in Young Children. Deborah Hewitt. 1995. 142 pp. (Not available from EDRS; write Redleaf Press, 450 North Syndicate, Suite 5, St. Paul, MN 55104-4125.) Intended to facilitate communication between parents and child care providers, this guide explains young children's normal developmental behaviors that nevertheless frequently cause concern, and identifies environmental factors that can help parents and caregivers produce a positive response from a child. The guide consists of 16 chapters that discuss various behaviors. Chapter 16 examines biting. Each chapter provides information for providers and parents, as well as a planning form to help providers and parents promote consistency between the early childhood setting and home.

ERIC Journal Articles

EJ606990

UNDERSTANDING AND PREVENTING TODDLER BITING. Veronica Garcia. Texas Child Care, Vol. 23, No. 1 (Summer 1999): 12-15. This article describes the reasons that toddlers may bite in child care settings, recommends caregiver responses to toddler biting, presents tips for observing children in order to identify the biter's patterns, and outlines ways to prevent biting in child care settings.

EJ584452

THE STAGES OF BITING. Dana Marlowe. Montessori Life, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Spring 1999): 33-34. Infants and toddlers, depending on their developmental stage, use biting to explore the environment and to learn about cause and effect, and as a power move to elicit a response. The article discusses ways to deal with biting at each level, how to support parents dealing with the behavior at home, and the importance of taking biting seriously.

EJ558652

BITING BEHAVIORS AMONG PRESCHOOLERS: A Review of the Literature and a Survey of Practitioners. Julia T. Reguero de Atiles, Delores A. Stegelin, & Janie K. Long. Early Childhood Education Journal, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Winter 1997): 101-105. This review of research on biting reports a study that examined procedures to handle biting that were established by child care facilities. The study found that 60 percent of respondents handled biting incidents, only a third reported having a policy on biting, and fewer than 3 percent understood the developmental nature of biting behavior.

EJ538103

USING NAEYC'S CODE OF ETHICS. Young Children, Vol. 52, No. 2 (January 1997): 54-55. This article notes that children biting other children is a serious health concern because of the danger of infection. The article explores the ethical dilemma of upholding child and family privacy while promoting home-center partnerships when one child is biting others; and offers the viewpoints of parents, teachers, and directors on this problem.

EJ503564

REALITY BITES (FREQUENTLY): Biting at the Center--Part 2. Jim Greenman. Child Care Information Exchange, No. 101 (January-February 1995): 65-67. This article offers caregivers recommendations on what to do when a child bites another child. The article recommends making changes in the room environment, maintaining positive relationships with parents, and dealing with biting when it becomes a frequent occurrence.

EJ503805

LIVING IN THE REAL WORLD--NO SURPRISES: Reducing Staff-Parent Tensions. Jim Greenman. Child Care Information Exchange, No. 103 (May-June 1995): 29-31. Possible sources of tension between child care center staff and parents include children who bite, difficult transitions from one class to another, children's reluctance to leave the center at the end of the day, and parents' failure to read center announcements. Ways to minimize these tensions are suggested.

EJ489936

REALITY BITES: Biting at the Center--Part 1. Jim Greenman & Anne Willis Stonehouse. Child Care Information Exchange, No. 99 (September-October 1994): 85-88. Reasons for biting behavior among toddlers in group child care include teething, impulsiveness and lack of self-control, overstimulation, and frustration. The authors offer advice to help child caregivers handle biting.

EJ486889

MANAGING THE BITING CHILD. Anne E. Claffey, Laura J. Kucharski, & Rene R. Gratz. Early Child Development and Care, Vol. 99 (1994): 93-101. This article discusses the causes of biting behavior and techniques that can be used to manage biting toddlers. The article notes that child care staff need to consider the developmental level of the child, the influence of the environment, and the role of adults in the child's life.

Web Resources

From the National Association for the Education of Young Children: Dealing With Biting Behaviors in Young Children.

http://ericeece.org/faq/ biting.html

Biters: Why They Do It and What To Do About It (1996)

http://npin.org/library/ pre1998/n00217/n00217.html

From the National Network for Child Care:

When Children Bite (1996)

www.nncc.org/Guidance/ dc16_children.bite.html

Biting Hurts! (1995)

www.nncc.org/Guidance/ bit.hurt.html

The ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education (ERIC/ EECE) contributed this column. Abstracts of ERIC documents and journal articles can be read on ERIC microfiche and on CD-ROM, which are available in many libraries. The ERIC database is also available online. For online locations to search the ERIC database, visit the ACCESS ERIC Web site at http:// www.eric.ed.gov. Most ERIC documents can be ordered in paper copy or on microfiche, and many recent documents can be ordered on the Internet, from the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). For complete ordering information, contact EDRS at 800-443-3742, http:// edrs.com, or [e-mail]. An availability source is indicated for those documents summarized in this column that are not available from EDRS. For journal articles cited in the column, refer directly to the journal or contact article clearinghouses such as UnCover (800-787-7979), UMI (800-732-0616), or ISI (800-523-1850) for ordering information. Further information on elementary and early childhood education is available from ERIC/EECE, Children's Research Center, University of Illinois, 51 Gerty Drive, Champaign, IL 61820-7469; phone: [phone] or 800-583-4135; E-mail: [e-mail]; URL: http:// ericeece.org/.