Child Life Specialists are Changing Care for Kids

How can a care team ensure a child with autism and sensory differences gets the medical treatment they need to be healthy without causing unnecessary stress or trauma to the child and family? Child life specialists hold the key!

As the sole child life team in the Dayton region, our 17?certified child life specialists are among the many pediatric differences at Dayton Children’s! From helping prepare for appointments to offering support, distraction and play-focused interventions, child life specialists normalize the hospital experience and help our patients focus on their most important job… being a kid!

“Recently, we had a patient who had never been able to come into the hospital to receive care,” says child life specialist Elise Huntley, MA, CCLS. The teen boy has autism and is triggered by transitioning from one location to another. He would get as far as the hospital doors and not be able to continue, even with encouragement from caregivers.

“For every child we care for, we start with an assessment to create an individual care plan,” says Elise. About 95% of people with autism have sensory processing differences. Areas throughout the hospital have been tailored to adapt to the needs of kids – sensory rooms are available in surgery and the imaging lab that can either increase or decrease the amount of sensory input the child is exposed to, depending on what’s best for that child.

Elise spoke with the boy’s caregivers ahead of time and learned about his sensory needs and how he reacted with his environment. She coordinated a large team of clinical staff to manage every aspect of his visit, including allowing him to enter the hospital from a staff entrance to reduce stimulation, making frequent stops in hallways when he had trouble continuing, and using distraction tools while he went through the sedation process for his procedure. She even learned that he preferred to self-sooth by plucking carpet fibers and worked with the hospital’s facilities team to have carpet squares available for him!

All this planning, preparation and compassionate acceptance of the boy’s differences resulted in a successful procedure and a very happy family. “The impact of adapting to meet the child where they are, instead of expecting them to adapt to a standard hospital room, is that they feel a sense of control over their environment and their own body,” says Elise. This ultimately means that we can provide optimal health care to more kids.

Spreading awareness

Our child life specialists are spreading awareness and sharing their knowledge! Just this year, our team will present at six conferences and education programs, and they recently published an article in Autism Spectrum News about adaptive sensory environments. The Dayton Children’s Hospital child life team is leading the way in advancing care for kids.

?Did you know?

At Dayton Children’s, the child life program is funded almost entirely through philanthropy – that means YOUR support is essential to ensuring this program can continue. Thanks to our donors, our child life specialists, music therapists and Canine Co-Pilots can be there for all the special needs of kids who need expert pediatric medical and mental health care.

Show your support in honor of National Child Life Month and make a donation today !