Child life specialist

Child life specialists are pediatric health care professionals who work with children and families in hospitals and other settings to help them cope with the challenges of hospitalization, illness, and disability. They provide children with age-appropriate preparation for medical procedures, pain management and coping strategies, and play and self-expression activities. They also provide information, support, and guidance to parents, siblings, and other family members.

A child life specialist in North America is a professional traditionally employed in the hospital setting. He or she focuses on the psychosocial development of children, and encourages effective coping strategies for children and their families under stress. Child life specialists recognize individuality in patients, and use a range of developmentally appropriate activities, including play, preparation for a medical procedure, education, self-expression, and family support to help cope with hospitalization, illness, or death and dying. Child life specialists are trained to take into account the cognitive, emotional, and physical development of each child in order to encourage optimum development of children facing a challenging experience, particularly one related to healthcare and hospitalization.

The field of child life began to flourish in the United States and Canada in the early 1960s through the pioneering work of Emma Plank who trained with Maria Montessori and used the principles of child development to promote appropriate care for this special population in the hospital. Prior to this time, it was not uncommon for parents to be excluded from the pediatric wards of hospitals except for brief visitation hours, sometimes just on weekends. Today, hospitals acknowledge the special emotional and educational needs of children by providing a child-friendly environment, as well as programs which facilitate the primary role of the family, and support which encourages adjustment to the hospital and to health care through the child's growing years.

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