CHILD LIFE CERTIFICATION 2025/2026 QUESTIONS WITH
ANSWERS TAGGED A+
✔✔piaget development - ✔✔-sensorimotor (birth-2): child understands world in terms of
their actions on the environment, understand cause and effect, starts to develop
schemes
-pre operational (2-7): start to develop language, have object permanence, very
egocentric, cannot see others perspectives, semi-logical reasoning
-concrete operations (7-11): logical answers, can do more mental operations, start
doing conservationism, develop idea of reversibility
-formal operational (11+): more adult like thinking, experiences change the way you ting
about things, can think about present and future, reflect on wha you and others are
thinking about
✔✔hospital interventions (based on dev) - ✔✔-infant 0-2: soft music, use of pacifier,
encourage parental involvement/holding, provide medical explanations to parent,
calming touch
-toddler (18mo-3yrs): provide choices, comfort items, distractions, encourage play
-preschool (3-5): provide choice, participation in procedure, comfort object, distraction,
assure procedure is not punishment
-school age (6-12): full explanation/prep, allow child to ask questions, participation in
procedure, encourage pay and normalcy, create opportunities for self expression
-teenage (13+): in depth medical explanation if desired, respect for privacy, offer
choices, encourage/facilitate communication with friends and other peers, encourage
engagement in normal activities, provide opportunities for self expression
✔✔characteristics of hospitalized children - ✔✔-2/3 of all childhood hospital stays are
newborns and neonates
-the rest are for pediatric illnesses besides neonatal care and adolescent pregnancy
-childrens reactions to hospital stays will vary depending on their developmental level
and how they cope with stress
✔✔separation anxiety (3 stages) - ✔✔initial stage: protest-crying
second stage: despair- depressed, quiet, realize parent isn't coming back
final stage: detachment- cold to parent when they come back
✔✔separation anxiety (cope) - ✔✔reading stories to children/convos with children about
separation, facilitating on going communication with fan at home, symbolic play:
peekaboo, games w bubbles, cars, balls (going away, coming back), hiding and finding
games, dramatic play, seeking play as comfort, need for reassurance
✔✔vulnerable children - ✔✔young children and previously hospitalized kids, parent-
child reactions, sensory impaired, neurological, comprised or developmentally delayed
children. have a harder time coping with hospitalizations and treatment.
, ✔✔resilient children - ✔✔have the ability to return rapidly to a previous psychological or
physiological state, psychosocial issues support resiliency: reinforcement,
encouragement, modeling, training
✔✔attachement theory - ✔✔-secure: adult influences relationship, develops across
time, start to read each others signals
*may exhibit distress when separated from caregiver but greet the return of a parent
with positive behavior
*seek comfort from caregiver
*prefer parent to stranger
*more empathetic, less disruptive, less aggressive, more mature
✔✔insecure attachment - ✔✔-avoidant: avoid parents and caregivers, upon reunion
looks away or actively avoids, when offered a choice, little or no preference between a
caregiver and a stranger
-ambivalent: considerable distress by separation, may passively reject the parent, fails
to find comfort from the parent, linked to low maternal availability, clingy and over
dependent
-disorganized: reactive attachment disorder, negative self perception or a negative
perception of others, lack trust, behavior lacks and observable goal, behavior is bizzare
✔✔stress - ✔✔stress refers to an ongoing transaction between a person and the
environment that results in an emotional appraisal that the situation is threatening or
harmful to some important aspect of well-being. two aspects of stress: event that
causes stress and the individuals response.
✔✔coping - ✔✔what a person does to remove, avoid, minimize or get through a
stressful situation
✔✔problem-focused coping - ✔✔something you can change in the environment
✔✔emotion focused coping - ✔✔something you have to change within yourself
✔✔information processing - ✔✔being able to take in info, receiving, assimilating,
sorting, recalling and applying information. CL may have to help transmit that info to
children in a way they will understand.
✔✔psychosocial support - ✔✔-supportive time before during and after big events
-communication
-respect
-accurate info and reassurance
-empathetic and nonjudgmental
-sincere interest in the childs welfare
-engaging the child in play
-provide support and info to family members
ANSWERS TAGGED A+
✔✔piaget development - ✔✔-sensorimotor (birth-2): child understands world in terms of
their actions on the environment, understand cause and effect, starts to develop
schemes
-pre operational (2-7): start to develop language, have object permanence, very
egocentric, cannot see others perspectives, semi-logical reasoning
-concrete operations (7-11): logical answers, can do more mental operations, start
doing conservationism, develop idea of reversibility
-formal operational (11+): more adult like thinking, experiences change the way you ting
about things, can think about present and future, reflect on wha you and others are
thinking about
✔✔hospital interventions (based on dev) - ✔✔-infant 0-2: soft music, use of pacifier,
encourage parental involvement/holding, provide medical explanations to parent,
calming touch
-toddler (18mo-3yrs): provide choices, comfort items, distractions, encourage play
-preschool (3-5): provide choice, participation in procedure, comfort object, distraction,
assure procedure is not punishment
-school age (6-12): full explanation/prep, allow child to ask questions, participation in
procedure, encourage pay and normalcy, create opportunities for self expression
-teenage (13+): in depth medical explanation if desired, respect for privacy, offer
choices, encourage/facilitate communication with friends and other peers, encourage
engagement in normal activities, provide opportunities for self expression
✔✔characteristics of hospitalized children - ✔✔-2/3 of all childhood hospital stays are
newborns and neonates
-the rest are for pediatric illnesses besides neonatal care and adolescent pregnancy
-childrens reactions to hospital stays will vary depending on their developmental level
and how they cope with stress
✔✔separation anxiety (3 stages) - ✔✔initial stage: protest-crying
second stage: despair- depressed, quiet, realize parent isn't coming back
final stage: detachment- cold to parent when they come back
✔✔separation anxiety (cope) - ✔✔reading stories to children/convos with children about
separation, facilitating on going communication with fan at home, symbolic play:
peekaboo, games w bubbles, cars, balls (going away, coming back), hiding and finding
games, dramatic play, seeking play as comfort, need for reassurance
✔✔vulnerable children - ✔✔young children and previously hospitalized kids, parent-
child reactions, sensory impaired, neurological, comprised or developmentally delayed
children. have a harder time coping with hospitalizations and treatment.
, ✔✔resilient children - ✔✔have the ability to return rapidly to a previous psychological or
physiological state, psychosocial issues support resiliency: reinforcement,
encouragement, modeling, training
✔✔attachement theory - ✔✔-secure: adult influences relationship, develops across
time, start to read each others signals
*may exhibit distress when separated from caregiver but greet the return of a parent
with positive behavior
*seek comfort from caregiver
*prefer parent to stranger
*more empathetic, less disruptive, less aggressive, more mature
✔✔insecure attachment - ✔✔-avoidant: avoid parents and caregivers, upon reunion
looks away or actively avoids, when offered a choice, little or no preference between a
caregiver and a stranger
-ambivalent: considerable distress by separation, may passively reject the parent, fails
to find comfort from the parent, linked to low maternal availability, clingy and over
dependent
-disorganized: reactive attachment disorder, negative self perception or a negative
perception of others, lack trust, behavior lacks and observable goal, behavior is bizzare
✔✔stress - ✔✔stress refers to an ongoing transaction between a person and the
environment that results in an emotional appraisal that the situation is threatening or
harmful to some important aspect of well-being. two aspects of stress: event that
causes stress and the individuals response.
✔✔coping - ✔✔what a person does to remove, avoid, minimize or get through a
stressful situation
✔✔problem-focused coping - ✔✔something you can change in the environment
✔✔emotion focused coping - ✔✔something you have to change within yourself
✔✔information processing - ✔✔being able to take in info, receiving, assimilating,
sorting, recalling and applying information. CL may have to help transmit that info to
children in a way they will understand.
✔✔psychosocial support - ✔✔-supportive time before during and after big events
-communication
-respect
-accurate info and reassurance
-empathetic and nonjudgmental
-sincere interest in the childs welfare
-engaging the child in play
-provide support and info to family members
