2-year old bitting

[Maria]

My two year old was in a home-care setting since he was 7 months old. As he started to grow I felt that a nursery would be more appropriate for him, since his home-care provider was keeping him in a playpen most of the time. He would get home with all this energy and sometimes would even be very irritated and aggressive. He has been in a nursery/school now for 6 weeks. The first day of school he came home with 4 bites. I was very troubled and even went in to talk to the school director. The second day he came home with another bite. I felt that this was just part of him having to adjust to a larger group and didn't say anything to the teacher. On the fourth day the teacher told me that he had bit 3 children. Ever since then, the complaints of him bitting others have been made every day. His teacher says that she has to be constantly supervising him or he will bite or hit the other children. He has always been a very active child, even biting at times when he doesn't get his way. I always thought that was normal behavior and the he just needed to be reprimanded by saying "no bitting" or a minute or two in time-out, but this constant biting/hitting/aggressive behavior has begun now and it has not stopped since he started in school. Does he need a psycologist evaluation? What can I do? I am desperate for an answer since his teacher has commented that she needs her assistant to be solely devoted to him and that if the behavior does not change in 2 weeks she will be forced to ask me to find other arrangements for him.
I am praying for him constantly and I am using the time-out method at home and in school. It has been 3 weeks and no changes yet. I eagerly wait for your reply or anyone else out there that may be experiencing the same problem.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Dear Maria,

Biting among two-year-olds normally does cease when an effective plan of behavior management is implemented. It sounds like you've done some good things, but you (and the daycare setting) might fine tune the process.

At the outset of group activity, it's important to underline that biting is not allowed. At the first sign of aggression, your son should be placed in time out, with a simple statement: "No biting." A timer should be used to track his time out period (several minutes will suffuce). When the bell or buzzer sounds, he should be allowed to resume some activity, but by himself for a short time, again with the instruction: "No biting." Only after a period of succesful quiet play should he be permitted to join more children.

It may be that the daycare setting, with its demands for interaction, is a bit overwhelming for him. It is quite an adjustment from what he's experienced before.

It wouldn't hurt to have him observed by a child mental health professional. Such observation can pinpoint the pattern of behavior and give you some guidance re: the issue of normal-spectrum child behavior problem vs. emotional/psychological problem, and can yield some hopefully useful guidance to daycare staff.

[CCcallalily]

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