Child Life Specialists

At Diamond Children's Medical Center, we recognize that illness and hospitalization can often be stressful events in the lives of children and their families. By using developmentally appropriate education, preparation and supportive activities, our child life specialists work as a part of an interdisciplinary health care team to help alleviate stress and anxiety while promoting positive coping skills before, during and after hospitalization for patients and their families.

Role of a Child Life Specialist

Child life specialists enhance patients' emotional, social and cognitive growth during hospitalizations, giving special consideration to each child's family, culture and stage of development.

Child life specialists provide emotional and psychosocial interventions and play to help patients and families adjust to and understand the hospital and their medical condition. Child life specialists serve all areas of Diamond Children's Medical Center including the inpatient floors, outpatient clinics, operating rooms and pediatric emergency area.

As professionals trained to work with children in medical settings, child life specialists hold college degrees and have backgrounds in fields of child life, child development or therapeutic recreation. Certified child life specialists have the minimum of a bachelor's degree, have completed a 480-hour clinical internship and have passed the Child Life Certification Exam, supervised by the Child Life Council.

Child Life Specialists provide

• Pre-Procedural Education - to allow patients to understand at a developmentally-appropriate level what will happen before, during and after their procedure.
• Procedural Support - to offer distraction, comfort positioning, emotional support, coping methods and breathing techniques during any medical procedure.
• Therapeutic Medical Play - (using special dolls and medical equipment) to clarify fears and misconceptions regarding hospitalization and to allow children to gain control.
• Normal Play - (in patient rooms and/or the activity center) to promote continued growth and development and to avoid regression that is common with hospitalization.
• Behavior Modification - (such as sticker charts) to encourage compliancy in taking medications and injections, initiating new routines, experiencing dressing changes, etc.
• Developmental Plans/Schedules - to normalize hospitalization by establishing daily and weekly routines for long-term patients.
• Sibling Intervention - to speak with the patient's relatives and friends to explain why the patient is in the hospital and to dispel any misconceptions.
• Special Events - to help promote normal traditions (birthdays, holiday celebrations, visits from special guests, etc.).
• Bereavement Support - to facilitate coping for anybody experiencing a loss.