Child life specialist?

Question

I am 17 and right now I work in a daycare and a preschool as part of a childcare program I am in. I will be working on getting my CDA credential very soon but I recently learned about child life specialists and when I read about them I got really excited. I think It would be an extremely rewarding job and I would LOVE to become one. What would I have to do? What schools would anyone reccommend?

Answer 1

I am getting my BA in human growth and development. They have a web site childlife.org. There it will tell you what you need and it even tells you some colleges.

Answer 2

Wheelock College n Boston has an excellent program. And it's in Boston which means lots of great places to do fieldwork.You end up with a 4 year degree with a major in Human Development/Child Life.  My daughter went there.

Answer 3

ehow.com has the steps you  need to follow to become a child life specialist - sounds like a VERY rewarding career.  Any job working with children is rewarding, I think but you have certainly chosen a noble one.

Answer 4

Hey-

I was in the same process a few years ago. I had volunteered at a camp for children living with cancer and it was run by CCLS. I thought this career was a part of social work, but as I learned about Child Life I learned about schools/programs and internships that fulfill the requirements necessary to become a CCLS. It def starts with volunteering, even for internships a lot of hospitals prefer students with volunteer experience already in Child Life.

I graduated one year ago in a Child Life program in a NJ school, which included my 480 hr clinical internship. I took some time off after college to pursue international relief work but now that I have been back in the states for a couple of months I have been applying like crazy for Child Life positions and going on interviews. Let me just say that it has been a little difficult to get into the field. I wasn't fortunate to be hired right out of my internship (a lot of hospitals do that), and from my experience in pursuing this field it feels like many Child Life programs in peds aren't as willing to hire entry level Child Life Specialists as oppossed to someone with a year or more experience in the field. That has been my only frustration so far. It just seems that in Child Life there are few positions available and many applicants applying... so  a Child Life team can be picky about who ends up joins their team.

But one thing I can say about this field is that it is definately rewarding, I absolutely love this field and I think who ever created this position in pediatrics was a brilliant! CCLS's make such a difference in the lives of children and families, no doubt about that. Def check out the Childlife.org website and the state your living in might even have an associated Child Life website for networking. I'm hoping that I will get into the field soon. I know there is always social work, teaching, and non-profit organizations that are also rewarding as a back up in case Child Life doesn't work out for me. But let's just hope that it does lol.

Well I hope this info helped, let me know how everything goes and where you are in the process of pursuing Child Life.

You can also contact me at [e-mail] if you would like any more info on Child Life or any other questions you can think of.

Best of luck,

Heather

Answer 5

If you love kids, you'll love being a Child Life Specialist.  Some of the most rewarding jobs are in hospitals and clinics.  There are many colleges throughout the country which offer majors in this field.  I don't know where you are, so Google the following:  

child life specialist site:edu

Answer 6

I think you are very wise in considering this choice as a career. It is so good to get as much education as you can and you can always add to the degrees as you go along. Good luck, our children need people who care.