What is Child Life?
Certified Child Life Specialists (CCLS) are child development experts certified by the Association of Child Life Professionals to help children understand and cope with stressful situations. Child Life practice draws upon knowledge from child development, psychology, medicine, and other fields to support children and families.
Play
Medical and Therapeutic Play help children process and express emotions, understand the world, and cope with new experiences. Play is at the center of child life practice.
Education
Child Life Specialists are experts in child development and use child-friendly language and materials to teach children about medical procedures and stressful situations
Coping Skills
Child Life Specialists teach children the skills they need to lower pain, manage emotions, and face stressful situations with courage. With coping skills such as deep breathing, guided imagery, and distraction, children can sit still for x-rays, participate in their own glucose checks, or laugh and play on their way to surgery.
Emotional Support
With help from a Child Life Specialist, kids can process and express difficult emotions and make sense of pain, loss, and death.
Developmental Support
CCLS use play to help support optimal development for all children, including children born prematurely and children with developmental disabilities.