Lola Bites, Round Four
Lola bites. This is nothing new, and I think we've been dealing with Lola's biting for well over 6 months at this point. Daycare and we had taken certain measures to extinguish the behaviour, and we thought success was ours when she went three whole weeks without biting someone. It was glorious and, unfortunately, short-lived because then she started biting again.
Then we received the much dreaded phone call from the daycare director: "Please come in for a meeting so we can discuss your child's biting." Eric and I were certain that the meeting was the prerequisite conversation before kicking out our child, and we were very nervous. Instead, the director wanted us to know all the new things they were going to try to extinguish the behavior. Daycare is adamant that once her ability to communicate improves, then she'll stop biting altogether.
So, to prevent Lola's biting nature,
- she is always in a group of no more than 3 other children
- she is grouped with kids who she tends not to bite
- she receives behavioral therapy each day
- and she has one-on-one work to increase her speaking vocabulary.
And on the home front
- we are forcing her to sleep more hours each day
- we are drugging her with an allergy nasal spray
- we are working continuously on her speaking vocabulary
- and we drop her off later and pick her up earlier from school.
The days on the new system have been wonderful for Lola, and the daycare workers have reported that she seems like a totally different kid. Yesterday, someone was blocking her favorite toy. Her traditional response has been to get frustrated and then bite, but instead she said "Move please." And today someone tried to take her book, and she said "NO! My book!" and then she moved away from the situation.
She is thrilled that her words can be understood by others and that actions occur as a result. Earlier this week, she walked to the fridge and said "Milk, milk, milk!" When I opened up the fridge and gave her the cup, she literally did a happy dance of joy. She wandered off with her milk glass, and then a few minutes later we heard her crying. She had lain down on her diaper changing station because she was ready to go to bed, she needed someone to change her diaper and put her in the crib, and she upset we hadn't followed through on the "milk" command with a "put me to sleep" action. Lola has never put herself to bed before, and maybe now that she has the words, she'll tell us she wants to go to sleep earlier.
We are incredibly proud of her for 1) not biting, 2) for using her words, and 3) problem solving.
Then we received the much dreaded phone call from the daycare director: "Please come in for a meeting so we can discuss your child's biting." Eric and I were certain that the meeting was the prerequisite conversation before kicking out our child, and we were very nervous. Instead, the director wanted us to know all the new things they were going to try to extinguish the behavior. Daycare is adamant that once her ability to communicate improves, then she'll stop biting altogether.
So, to prevent Lola's biting nature,
- she is always in a group of no more than 3 other children
- she is grouped with kids who she tends not to bite
- she receives behavioral therapy each day
- and she has one-on-one work to increase her speaking vocabulary.
And on the home front
- we are forcing her to sleep more hours each day
- we are drugging her with an allergy nasal spray
- we are working continuously on her speaking vocabulary
- and we drop her off later and pick her up earlier from school.
The days on the new system have been wonderful for Lola, and the daycare workers have reported that she seems like a totally different kid. Yesterday, someone was blocking her favorite toy. Her traditional response has been to get frustrated and then bite, but instead she said "Move please." And today someone tried to take her book, and she said "NO! My book!" and then she moved away from the situation.
She is thrilled that her words can be understood by others and that actions occur as a result. Earlier this week, she walked to the fridge and said "Milk, milk, milk!" When I opened up the fridge and gave her the cup, she literally did a happy dance of joy. She wandered off with her milk glass, and then a few minutes later we heard her crying. She had lain down on her diaper changing station because she was ready to go to bed, she needed someone to change her diaper and put her in the crib, and she upset we hadn't followed through on the "milk" command with a "put me to sleep" action. Lola has never put herself to bed before, and maybe now that she has the words, she'll tell us she wants to go to sleep earlier.
We are incredibly proud of her for 1) not biting, 2) for using her words, and 3) problem solving.
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