What Is a Child Life Specialist?

Stepping into the hospital or a doctor’s office can be a new experience for children, filled with unknowns and apprehensions. The unfamiliar sights and sounds of a hospital, the separation from loved ones for surgery and the potential challenges of navigating medical procedures can create a whirlwind of emotions for young patients. Add to that the disruption of familiar routines and the potential for ongoing treatments, and the road to recovery can seem overwhelming. 

“During medical experiences, child life specialists provide services to children and families, providing not just procedural preparation and support, but also facilitating a safe place to express their emotions and addressing the patient’s emotional safety during their hospitalization,” says Amanda Sanborn, a certified child life specialist at INTEGRIS Health Children’s. 

What is a child life specialist?

Overview: Certified child life specialists help alleviate stress and anxiety for children and families in health care settings. They are specialists who help children cope through teaching, preparing them for medical experiences and using play to navigate difficult feelings and emotions.

Child life specialists work with children from birth to eighteen years old, as well as children of adult patients and siblings of hospitalized children.  

A child's brain is a remarkable and resilient entity, constantly evolving and adapting to new experiences and complex emotions. 

• However, due to their developmental stage, children require education and support in understanding their medical experiences and coping with their emotions and creating positive coping skills.
• A child life specialist can provide tools and strategies to help children process and cope with their emotions in a healthy and constructive manner leading to long term benefits.

Empowering children with understanding enhances coping and reduces psychological distress.

• Certified child life specialists provide developmentally appropriate preparation before a procedure, create and implement coping plans with the patient and family and continue to provide education throughout a hospital visit or admission.
• Just like doctors, nurses or medical assistants, certified child life specialists are part of your child’s team. Through personalized and tailored interactions, they normalize the hospital experience using medical puppets, building rapport through play and making the environment feel safe.
• Certified child life specialists are experts in child development and psychosocial support for children.
• These providers are most effective in reducing emotional distress and trauma associated with illness or injury.

Child life specialists also work in adult hospitals to help children understand and cope with illnesses or injuries their parents may suffer. 

• Parents and caregivers may not feel able to discuss what’s happening medically in a way their child can understand.
• A child life specialist can step in to provide support, educate and prepare children for what’s to come next.
• Certified child life specialists also provide support for children visiting patients who are critically ill. They can implement therapeutic interventions to promote connection between the child and the patient.
• For children who are experiencing the death of a parent, child life specialists provide personalized education and support as well as memory-making items such as handprints to help children understand and cope.

Flashback: Read more about an Oklahoma toddler who finally got to go home for Christmas after spending almost half of his life in the INTEGRIS Health neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). 

What does a child life specialist do?

The bottom line: A certified child life specialist provides education, preparation and support throughout your child’s hospital experience. They are there to make sure you and your child have developmentally appropriate information about their hospital experience and support during their stay. 

Education is a key role of a child life specialist.

• Through preparation using interactive tools and age-appropriate explanations, they ensure that pediatric patients are prepared for medical procedures to promote understanding and clear up medical misconceptions for children, adolescents and their families.
• They also use medical play, visual aids and customized approaches to help children understand new medical diagnoses in a reassuring and compassionate manner. 

Support during procedures empowers children to navigate their health care journey with resilience and positivity.

• Child life specialists skillfully use distraction techniques and teach coping skills.
• By using playful activities, engaging games and coping plans, they can empower the child to focus away from discomfort or anxiety during procedures, fostering a sense of accomplishment in the child’s ability to “do hard things.” 

Normalizing the hospital experience for children ensures each child's experience is met with understanding, compassion and a sense of routine.

• Child life specialists use empathy to create a warm and welcoming environment.
• They make it less scary for kids by building rapport through play and providing education about the hospital environment.
• They also turn medical topics into something familiar using medical play which gives children a hands-on opportunity to explore medical equipment to reduce fears and the unknown. 

Advocating for children and their families ensures they feel heard, empowered and well-equipped to navigate any challenges that may arise.

• Child life specialists stand by families, giving personalized care and understanding for each family's needs.
• They collaborate with other hospital staff and communicate clearly, provide emotional support and offer resources to empower families in handling the ups and downs of medical care confidently.

Becoming a child life specialist

What to know: Those wishing to obtain child life certification must earn a bachelor’s degree in child life, psychology or a related field, complete the recommended pre internship experience, volunteer both within the hospital setting and an additional setting, complete a child life internship and pass the certification exam created by the Child Life Certifying Commission (CLCC) through the Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP). For more information reach out to the INTEGRIS Health Child Life Team. 

All certified child life specialists hold a bachelor's degree.

• Some employers may require a master's degree (two-year program) in child life or a related discipline for advanced positions.
• Employers require certification through CLCC that demands specific academic and clinical experience, passing a certification exam and maintaining certification through professional development. 
• To be certified, you need an internship of at least 600 hours under the direction of a certified child life specialist.
• Once certified, child life specialists are required to keep learning and growing by attending workshops, courses and conferences.

Some schools have child life concentrations as part of human services majors. 

• The coursework mirrors the requirements from the ACLP, and includes education on child life theory, developmental theory, education on adolescents and families, family dynamics, stress management, developmentally appropriate play, ethics, human physiology and learning about end-of-life and death.

Additional reading: Play is for more than children. Learn more about the power of play and how it has a role in daily life. 

Next steps: If your child has an upcoming procedure or doctor’s visit and you want to ensure they have a positive experience, ask your provider or medical team about how a child life specialist can assist your family. Learn more about INTEGRIS Health child life specialists.

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