Behavior Change Project

Amanda Hansen
The behavior I chose was Toys in the Mouth, which was being exhibited in a child the
age of 2.5 years old. I will be referring to this child as C. C has a strong obsession, of putting
objects into his mouth. When he picks up a toy it immediately goes to the mouth first and then
used to play or put it his mouth while hiding. C would be considered to be experiencing some of
the signs of Freuds Oral Stage of Psychosexual Development. The oral stage begins at birth and
ends around one year of age. In this case, C is 2.5 years old. He is putting everything is his
mouth and causing other children to do the same in a copying fashion, due to the attention that
it creates from teachers and other children. I feel that he should be beyond this stage at his age.
I will be using documentation, observations, and teachings that I have learned throughout the
class period and prior knowledge and researched knowledge to attempt a change in the behavior.
My goal was to understand and attempt to change the behavior for the better of the child
and the other children in the classroom as well as give the family tips, or ideas, or resources to
assist with it at home. By the end of this project my goal was to have given the positive
affirmations C needed and the tools in solving problems needed to help him overcome this habit
of putting everything in his mouth. I gave myself a time frame of about a month or so from early
April to May and would carry on into May if needed. I was not able to complete my final
observations and finishing assessing with the child due to the center being closed down, but I did
notice a huge change in C with his behaviors. I chose to use two forms of documentation when
conducting my observations and assessing.

The first method I used were anecdotal records and the second was time sampling. I
used these methods because I felt that both were the best way, besides normal observation, to
track and see when the behavior was occurring such as what time of day or with whom. (Please
See Attached Documents for observation notes) I chose to observe at different times of the day
to see if C was exhibiting these behaviors in the morning or during pick up time. I also wanted
to see if he was doing more around meal times or times after activities when maybe he was
thirsty or bored, which I found he is likes to drink liquids often.
There are a few things that I chose to do in my classroom to help C change these
behaviors. The first thing that I started to do with C, was to offer C water in-between activities.
I found that at meal times he would consume mass amounts of liquids in place of some foods. In
knowing that when you suck on things it produces saliva in the mouth, I wondered if maybe he
was thirsty and trying to do just that by putting the toys in his mouth. During transitions and
morning and drop offs, I offered C water. Each time he would take it and drink about 2 glasses
of water. I found that once he transitioned from drinking water to his activity of his or my
choice, that he was less prone to immediately put the toys in his mouth. I also found that when
he plays in the dramatic play/housekeeping area that when he is sucking on toys he may in fact
be pretending to eat them or drink them as the play suggests. In this case, I attempted to show
him and the other children how to pretend to play with the house-keeping toys. I demonstrated
how to hold the cup away from the mouth and pretend to drink. I also demonstrated how to hold
the utensils away from the mouth and pretend. Not only did they enjoy watching me pretend
with them, but C copied a few of my actions and as I was observing after I left that center, he did
it a few more times, but then going back a few times while checking if I was watching. I did
notice also, that some of the pretend food in that area had a unique texture to them. Almost

similar to a teether, almost like rubber and sometimes bumpy or wavy feeling. I considered this
and thought that he may like the feeling in his mouth. I chose to go to the dollar store and buy a
teether to see if that would refrain from him putting toys in his mouth. This method worked for
an about an hour and then the teether would be put down by C and picked up by another child
when I was not looking. It posed the same problem of the random toys in the mouth and the
transferring of germs and habits to other children. I immediately refrained from using this
method and felt that it would be more suitable for a smaller classroom size and smaller teacher to
child ratio where the toy or teether could be watched and washed when put down. Another
thing that I did was use a lot of positive reassurance and affirmations when we was not putting
the toys in his mouth and playing with them correctly like, Wow, I like how the toys are on the
floor or in the air. Also, I like how you are pretending C, the toys are away from your mouth,
Great Job! I feel that the results of all of the positive reassurance and affirmations along with
trying new techniques and offering him different ways to do things as well as offering him water
really helped in starting a change in his behavior.
The results that I came to are this. C had an ongoing need to put things in his mouth. I
found that it could be related to the fact that he was neglected as an infant and did not get a
change to develop in that developmental stage (oral) with his mother or a caring caregiver at the
crucial point in his young life. Like previously stated, the oral stage begins at birth and ends
around one year of age. The focus of the infant is the mouth and taking in the world through his
feeding experience with his caretaker or mother. I feel that C did not get this care and nurturing
at that time of his life and that would explain the oral fixation carrying on to his later years. I
think that with more positive guidance and interactions with C could really help this issue further
and help him with his language skills as well. Furthermore, I found that when I would offer him

water in-between activities that the toys would not immediately go into his mouth. I made sure
to offer him water at all times of the day when I felt that he was looking for something to put in
his mouth. I feel that by using the methods of observation that I did, it helped me to pin point
certain times of the day like transitions in between activates, that he needed that oral fix. I feel
that some other forms of documentation, like at home, could have helped in the process of this
behavior change as well, however the guardian of C did not see it as an issue at this time but took
my suggestions and offered to try them at home.
In conclusion, I felt that this project was a great way to use my skills as an educator to
help a child for the better and to help him reach his full potential. I think that not only did it help
him refrain from putting things into his mouth, but it helped him free up his mouth to use words
and language that he was not used to using. I felt that this project helped him in many ways and
that the response from his caregiver was that of a normal, loving caregiver. She did not want to
see an issue with her child but took the help and the suggestions respectfully and offered to help
any way that she could at home. I feel that even though I did not change the behavior
completely, I made a huge impact on that change and that he has been given some knowledge to
help him make good choices with his futures teachers.

Miller, Darla F. Positive Child Guidance. 7th ed. Belmont: Cengage Learning, 2013. N. pag.
Print.
Zamanian, K. (2011). Attachment theory as defense: What happened to infantile sexuality?.
Psychoanalytic Psychology, 28(1), 33-47. doi:10.1037/a0022341
Littlefield-Cook, Joan, and Greg Cook. The World Of Children. 3rdrd ed. New Jersey: Pearson
Education, 2007. N. pag. Print.