Child life Final
What are Schemes? -
Organized patterns of behavior that a person uses to think about and act in a
situation; as children acquire more information, their schemes become more complex.
Example: Infant has simple ______ for sucking, but soon develops varied schemes for how to
suck at the breast, bottle, pacifier, thumb etc...
What is Adaptation? -
Adjustment to new information about the environment. How long the child handles
new information that seems to conflict with what the child already knows. This involves two
processes
What is Assimilation -
taking in information and incorporating it into existing cognitive structure
Example - everything with 4 legs is a dog
What is Accommodation? -
changing one's cognitive structure to include new knowledge
Example - learning that a zebra and horse have 4 legs, but different than a dog.
What is Equilibrium? -
constant striving for a stable balance. *Dictates a shift from assimilation to
accommodation.
Example - When children handle new experiences within existing structures they organize
new mental patterns that integrate the new experience thus restoring equilibrium.
Transitioning from a bottle to sippy cup - different way of moving tongue and lips, adapts
original sucking scheme to accommodate new one.
What are some examples of Approach Behavior? -
hand to mouth, sucking, eye contact, cooing, hand clasping, Arms reaching, eye
contact, sucking, bringing hand to mouth, cooing, positive
What are some examples of Avoidance Behavior? -
yawning, frowning, looking away, arching back, splaying fingers, gaging,
recognition behavior, sneezing
What is Object Permanence? -
knowing that an object still exists, even if it is hidden. It requires the ability to form
a mental representation (i.e. a schema) of the object. (4 to 8 months)
Example - if you place a toy under a blanket, the child who has achieved object permanence
knows it is there and can actively seek it. Before this stage, the child behaves as if the toy had
simply disappeared. The attainment of object permanence generally signals the transition to
the next stage.
What is the official definition of Child Life? -
Child life refers to an organized, planned program of activities and services which
decrease psychological trauma and minimize stress and anxiety experienced by and child in a
1|Page
,healthcare setting while increasing in the child's positive coping with and adaptation to health
care experiences
What are the Main Objectives of child life? -
1. Help the child cope with stress
2. Promote the child's normal growth and development in the the health care setting and after
returning home
What are the goals for Child Life Services -
A. Minimizing stress and anxiety for child and adolescent
a. Start where the child is at developmentally, emotionally, and physically
b. Providing abundant play opportunities
i. Room, playroom, waiting rooms
c. Encourage expression of feelings through activities, talking, and vicariously doing it for
them or through them. Helping child understanding through what you are playing or saying
d. Providing opportunities for mastery and master goals
i. Control through making own choices
B. Increase Familiarity of Surroundings and events by providing:
a. Preadmission programs (tours)
b. Providing information and resources (books, pamphlets to families)
c. Explanations and preparations for all procedures and routines
d. Provide an appropriate physical environment; child friendly, safe, let kids decorate room
with parents or other family members
C. Maintain child's relationship with parents and other family members
a. Advocate for policies that promote unrestricted parents visitation (any time of day). Having
pictures at bedside, calling cards, recordable storybooks, computers to Skype
b. Provide opportunities for parents to continue their parental roles
i. Do laundry there
ii. Fridge in room for homemade food from home
iii. Bathe them
c. Communicate with parents and support them with an understanding of their stress and
anxiety
i. Listen and let them talk
d. Provide opportunities for siblings and peer visitation- usually 3-11y/o siblings get direct
preparation before seeing patient
What are the competencies of Child Life? -
Care of Infants, Children, Youth and Family-
Education and Supervision- ability to communicate about Child Life.
Administration- Evaluation! The structure of the work environment
Who was the "Father" of the field of Pediatrics? -
Abraham Jacobi, M.D.
Who was Annie Smith? What did she do? -
Recognized the importance of play in the hospital setting. First play program
developed at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago
2|Page
,There became a sense of urgency for "play: based on an understand that childhood
Who was Rene Spitz? What did he do? -
Hungarian Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst
While studying medicine, he discovered the works of Freud
Know for his influence research with infants and young children in various settings
Lead to the further research of social and environmental factors, as well as medical
management, that influences a child's response
What term did Rene Spitz coin? -
hospitalism
What does hospitalism mean? -
absence of mother, lack of stimulation
Who was Harry Bakwih, MD? What did he do? -
Humanize care in the hospital and initialed unlimited parental visits to infants
When and where did the official "child life moment" begin? -
1950's - 1960's and at Cleveland City Hospital
What were the contributions of Emma Plank to the Child Life Moment? -
Coined the term "child life"
Addressed Dr. Fred Robbins (Nobel Laureate) to create a program to address the social,
emotional, and educational needs of hospitalized children at Cleveland City Hospital
Served as director for Child Life and Education Division until 1972
10 hospitals in the United States and Canada had implemented play programs on their
children's wards
Play was identified as being an essential part of childhood
*Very important person in the child life moment*
Who was Dr. Fred Robbins? What did he do? -
Challenged Emma Plank to reate a program to address the social, emotional, and
educational needs of hospitalized children at Cleveland City Hospital.
Who was Marry Brookes? What did she do? -
Did similar work as Emma Plank, but at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Why was 1965 a significant year for Child Life? -
Organizing committee met to discuss creating an organization, established in 1966,
called the Association for the Well-Being of Hospitalized Children and Their Families
(renamed the Association for the Care of Children in Hospitals, or ACCH in 1967).
What is the ACCH? -
Association for the Care of Children in Hospitals
When and why was ACCH established? -
3|Page
, 1965. Contained doctors, nurses, parents, and others. Created a connection between
all these groups to discuss issues
When was the Standard Child Life professional certification exam put into place? -
1986
What are some of the other names that Child Life Specialists have been called over the years?
-
Volunteers, Play Leaders, Nurses with special training, child care workers
What are some responsibilities of "play leaders?" -
Respond to the distress of children admitted in large groups for tonsillectomies and
to individual children undergoing major surgeries
To provide daily activities for children on the wards, many of them term patients
To help parents visiting by setting up toy displays
When did the profession officially get the title "child life"? -
1979
What was the psychosocial care of children in Hospitals: A Clinical Practice Manual? When
was it published? -
Book published by Emma Plank 1983
What is the Child Life Council's vision-to-action strategic planning process? -
strategic planning initiative for the child life profession was carried out.
What are the basic theoretical perspectives on play? -
Cognitive Theories
Social learning
Attachment
Temperament
Stress and Coping
Systems theory
Psychosocial Development
What can play improve? -
Attention span
ability to focus
tracking
hand eye coordination
By the age of 4, ________ of a child's core brain structure is formed. -
85%
At what age do we have the most number of brain cells? -
When we are born
When does the most number of brain connections take place? -
4|Page
What are Schemes? -
Organized patterns of behavior that a person uses to think about and act in a
situation; as children acquire more information, their schemes become more complex.
Example: Infant has simple ______ for sucking, but soon develops varied schemes for how to
suck at the breast, bottle, pacifier, thumb etc...
What is Adaptation? -
Adjustment to new information about the environment. How long the child handles
new information that seems to conflict with what the child already knows. This involves two
processes
What is Assimilation -
taking in information and incorporating it into existing cognitive structure
Example - everything with 4 legs is a dog
What is Accommodation? -
changing one's cognitive structure to include new knowledge
Example - learning that a zebra and horse have 4 legs, but different than a dog.
What is Equilibrium? -
constant striving for a stable balance. *Dictates a shift from assimilation to
accommodation.
Example - When children handle new experiences within existing structures they organize
new mental patterns that integrate the new experience thus restoring equilibrium.
Transitioning from a bottle to sippy cup - different way of moving tongue and lips, adapts
original sucking scheme to accommodate new one.
What are some examples of Approach Behavior? -
hand to mouth, sucking, eye contact, cooing, hand clasping, Arms reaching, eye
contact, sucking, bringing hand to mouth, cooing, positive
What are some examples of Avoidance Behavior? -
yawning, frowning, looking away, arching back, splaying fingers, gaging,
recognition behavior, sneezing
What is Object Permanence? -
knowing that an object still exists, even if it is hidden. It requires the ability to form
a mental representation (i.e. a schema) of the object. (4 to 8 months)
Example - if you place a toy under a blanket, the child who has achieved object permanence
knows it is there and can actively seek it. Before this stage, the child behaves as if the toy had
simply disappeared. The attainment of object permanence generally signals the transition to
the next stage.
What is the official definition of Child Life? -
Child life refers to an organized, planned program of activities and services which
decrease psychological trauma and minimize stress and anxiety experienced by and child in a
1|Page
,healthcare setting while increasing in the child's positive coping with and adaptation to health
care experiences
What are the Main Objectives of child life? -
1. Help the child cope with stress
2. Promote the child's normal growth and development in the the health care setting and after
returning home
What are the goals for Child Life Services -
A. Minimizing stress and anxiety for child and adolescent
a. Start where the child is at developmentally, emotionally, and physically
b. Providing abundant play opportunities
i. Room, playroom, waiting rooms
c. Encourage expression of feelings through activities, talking, and vicariously doing it for
them or through them. Helping child understanding through what you are playing or saying
d. Providing opportunities for mastery and master goals
i. Control through making own choices
B. Increase Familiarity of Surroundings and events by providing:
a. Preadmission programs (tours)
b. Providing information and resources (books, pamphlets to families)
c. Explanations and preparations for all procedures and routines
d. Provide an appropriate physical environment; child friendly, safe, let kids decorate room
with parents or other family members
C. Maintain child's relationship with parents and other family members
a. Advocate for policies that promote unrestricted parents visitation (any time of day). Having
pictures at bedside, calling cards, recordable storybooks, computers to Skype
b. Provide opportunities for parents to continue their parental roles
i. Do laundry there
ii. Fridge in room for homemade food from home
iii. Bathe them
c. Communicate with parents and support them with an understanding of their stress and
anxiety
i. Listen and let them talk
d. Provide opportunities for siblings and peer visitation- usually 3-11y/o siblings get direct
preparation before seeing patient
What are the competencies of Child Life? -
Care of Infants, Children, Youth and Family-
Education and Supervision- ability to communicate about Child Life.
Administration- Evaluation! The structure of the work environment
Who was the "Father" of the field of Pediatrics? -
Abraham Jacobi, M.D.
Who was Annie Smith? What did she do? -
Recognized the importance of play in the hospital setting. First play program
developed at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago
2|Page
,There became a sense of urgency for "play: based on an understand that childhood
Who was Rene Spitz? What did he do? -
Hungarian Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst
While studying medicine, he discovered the works of Freud
Know for his influence research with infants and young children in various settings
Lead to the further research of social and environmental factors, as well as medical
management, that influences a child's response
What term did Rene Spitz coin? -
hospitalism
What does hospitalism mean? -
absence of mother, lack of stimulation
Who was Harry Bakwih, MD? What did he do? -
Humanize care in the hospital and initialed unlimited parental visits to infants
When and where did the official "child life moment" begin? -
1950's - 1960's and at Cleveland City Hospital
What were the contributions of Emma Plank to the Child Life Moment? -
Coined the term "child life"
Addressed Dr. Fred Robbins (Nobel Laureate) to create a program to address the social,
emotional, and educational needs of hospitalized children at Cleveland City Hospital
Served as director for Child Life and Education Division until 1972
10 hospitals in the United States and Canada had implemented play programs on their
children's wards
Play was identified as being an essential part of childhood
*Very important person in the child life moment*
Who was Dr. Fred Robbins? What did he do? -
Challenged Emma Plank to reate a program to address the social, emotional, and
educational needs of hospitalized children at Cleveland City Hospital.
Who was Marry Brookes? What did she do? -
Did similar work as Emma Plank, but at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Why was 1965 a significant year for Child Life? -
Organizing committee met to discuss creating an organization, established in 1966,
called the Association for the Well-Being of Hospitalized Children and Their Families
(renamed the Association for the Care of Children in Hospitals, or ACCH in 1967).
What is the ACCH? -
Association for the Care of Children in Hospitals
When and why was ACCH established? -
3|Page
, 1965. Contained doctors, nurses, parents, and others. Created a connection between
all these groups to discuss issues
When was the Standard Child Life professional certification exam put into place? -
1986
What are some of the other names that Child Life Specialists have been called over the years?
-
Volunteers, Play Leaders, Nurses with special training, child care workers
What are some responsibilities of "play leaders?" -
Respond to the distress of children admitted in large groups for tonsillectomies and
to individual children undergoing major surgeries
To provide daily activities for children on the wards, many of them term patients
To help parents visiting by setting up toy displays
When did the profession officially get the title "child life"? -
1979
What was the psychosocial care of children in Hospitals: A Clinical Practice Manual? When
was it published? -
Book published by Emma Plank 1983
What is the Child Life Council's vision-to-action strategic planning process? -
strategic planning initiative for the child life profession was carried out.
What are the basic theoretical perspectives on play? -
Cognitive Theories
Social learning
Attachment
Temperament
Stress and Coping
Systems theory
Psychosocial Development
What can play improve? -
Attention span
ability to focus
tracking
hand eye coordination
By the age of 4, ________ of a child's core brain structure is formed. -
85%
At what age do we have the most number of brain cells? -
When we are born
When does the most number of brain connections take place? -
4|Page
