Child Life Specialists: Who Are They and What Do They Do?*
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Child Life Specialists-who are they and what do they do?*
Many of us may not be familiar with the child life profession. Child life specialists work primarily in healthcare settings where children and families are served focusing on their emotional and developmental needs of children as opposed to the physical needs. Child life programs have evolved and have spread to non-hospital settings such as schools, early intervention, camps, foster care, and pediatric dental clinics, among other areas.
Certified child life specialists (CCLS) have a strong background in child development and family systems. They promote effective, coping through play, preparation, education, and self-expression activities. They provide emotional support for families and encourage optimal development of children facing a broad range of challenging experiences such as hospitalization, the death of a loved one, natural disasters, violent acts, and foster care (Association of Child Life Professionals). Moreover, CCLS provide information, support, and guidance to parents, siblings, and other family members. They play a vital role in educating caregivers, administrators, and the community about the needs of children under stress.
What is their educational background and training?
CCLS have at least a bachelor’s degree in child life or related field (i.e., human development, child development, or education); support growth and development by providing developmental, educational, and therapeutic interventions while recognizing family strengths. Also, CCLS must complete a hospital-based internship and have passed a national certification exam administered by the Child Life Council.
What services do they offer?
As stated earlier, child life specialists are child development experts and have specialized training in meeting the needs of infants, children, and adolescents that are experiencing stress and/or trauma due to various life situations.
They help children and families cope with stressful situations by providing emotional and developmental support using therapeutic play. Child life specialists can:
Prepare patients and siblings before, after, and during medical procedures and other stressful events; using a variety of teaching tools (i.e., dolls, books, videos, medical equipment, pictures, tours, etc.).
Help facilitate effective coping techniques for various stressful/traumatic experiences.
Provide expressive and therapeutic play to promote mastery and understanding of hospital experiences.
Provide support and tools to help children and families function more effectively at home.
Provide support and education to patients and siblings to increase awareness and understanding of new diagnosis, unknown diagnosis, and illness.
Provide education to parents/caregivers on childhood growth and development and the effects of illness, injury and hospitalization.
Conduct developmental assessments, through observations or formal tests.
Visit a child’s school or early education center to explain illness, injury, treatment, and recovery to classmates (i.e., after surgery, extended illness, new diagnosis, changes in activity or physical appearance, teasing/bullying due to illness, etc.).
Therapeutic groups, when deemed necessary, to help children understand that they are not alone and that their feelings are normal.
Child life specialists are a valuable resource in healthcare as well as community settings. In the following post, we will explore how child life specialist fit in the early childhood education field.
More information: Association of Child Life Professionals at https://www.childlife.org
A day in the life of a Child Life Specialist: https://youtu.be/daysNlDgSAw and https://youtu.be/hZny6tkCpVE
*Yeni is not a certified child life specialist. She holds a certificate in Child Life from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
