Understanding Biting Behaviour

Biting is not an uncommon behaviour for practitioners to encounter in education and health and social care settings. We often associate it with younger children, who may struggle to articulate clearly what they want or need. As they develop and improve their skills around impulse control and communication, biting behaviour tends to tail off.

However, some individuals continue to engage in biting behaviour throughout childhood, and well into adulthood, so it’s vital to understand the underlying reasons, exploring practical ways to support individuals, and reduce risk for all.

Why individuals may engage in biting behaviour

All behaviour is communication, so when somebody bites, it’s their attempt to try and tell us something.

For individuals who, due to their age or speech and language needs, may not be able to verbalise how they are feeling or what they want, biting provides them with a quick, simple, and – to a degree – effective way to express a number of emotions. These can include frustration, fear and anger, or even excitement and affection.

Individuals with sensory needs often explore the world around them through hands-on experiences, including mouthing objects. Chewing and biting are both sensory activities which have a regulating effect on a person’s nervous system and enable them to self-soothe. If they are not equipped with any other regulation strategies or coping mechanisms, then they may default to biting behaviour when they feel heightened.

Biting tends to elicit a strong reaction from other people, whether it’s a shriek, a cry, a scream, or even just a sharp intake of breath. For individuals who are seeking connection, this kind of response can be perceived as a ‘reward’, thereby reinforcing the behaviour, and increasing the likelihood of recurrence.

Supporting individuals with biting behaviour

Even though we understand that biting behaviour is a form of communication, it’s critical that we are able to keep individuals, ourselves, our colleagues, and anyone else within the setting safe from harm. The following tips suggest practical ways in which we can reduce risk for all:

1: Identifying triggers

Identifying and anticipating triggers can help to reduce the likelihood of biting, and allow us to intervene swiftly and redirect behaviour, or even avoid it altogether. For example, we may know that an individual is likely to bite when their environment is overstimulating, or when they are transitioning from one task to another.

Whatever the trigger is, pinpointing the circumstances leading up to the biting behaviour enables us to ask ourselves questions like:

• • Where does it happen?

• • Who is involved?

• • What time of day is it?

• • What happens just before / after the biting behaviour?