Article Review: Why Toddlers Bite

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that one of the most upsetting events for parents and children is when a child is bitten by another child. The author points out that the article addresses this problem from the standpoint of developmental problems including oral motor development, sensory integration and behavioral organization. The paper relates that Ramming, Kyger and Thompson believe that the best way to stop children from biting is to meet their developmental needs. The author surmises that, basically, children bite in reaction to different senses that they do not understand. The paper cites that the article suggests that the ways to prevent biting includes feeding the children foods that they can chew on and giving them oral stimulation brushes and other chewing objects.

From the Paper:

"The authors believe biting is linked to oral development or the suck, swallow, and breathe synchrony. Children bite in order to change the environment. When a child feels stressed, the child bites to ease the stress. Sensory integration is related to the normal vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch, but also proprioceptive sense, vestibular sense, and tactile sense. When any of these are threatened, a child may bite (Running, Kyger, and Thompson, 2006, 18). Children cannot understand many of the senses that they are feeling so they bite to reduce the stress. The hypothesis by the authors states centers on the belief that a child bites when he is trying to respond to a situation but lacks the ability to handle the situation."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Ramming, P., Kyger, C. & Thompson, S. (2006). A new bit on toddler biting - the influence of food, oral motor development, and sensory activities. Young Children, 17-23.

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