Path to Becoming a Child Life Specialist

Hours, hours, hours!

Get AS MANY HOURS AS POSSIBLE working with children in a variety of settings. This is always my biggest advice. It can be volunteering (some of it will probably have to be) or paid experiences. In terms of the variety of settings, try to look at it as 3 categories:

1. Children in healthcare settings: hospital, medical camps, programs for children with medical diagnoses, hospice

2. Children in a stressful situation: grief camps, children with a parent with a medical diagnosis, children with disabilities

3. “Well children” outside of a healthcare setting: nannying, teaching, counselor

You’ll want 100 hours in each category as an absolute minimum, but to be a competitive applicant for internship, you’ll want more.

ACLP-required coursework

I get asked a lot about what major you need to become a child life specialist. The reality is that your major specifically doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you have at least a bachelor’s degree and the ACLP-required courses. Of course picking a major that includes at least some of those courses would be the easiest route but you do you! The courses are:

1. Child life course taught by a CCLS

2. Two child development courses

3. Family systems course

4. Play course

5. Loss/bereavement course or death/dying course

6. Research course

7. Three additional courses

If you’re part of an ACLP endorsed academic program, you will not need to worry about any of your courses not counting towards certification. If not, you can email [email protected] to verify coursework. This is important because to be able to sit for the certification exam, you need to complete the ACLP’s eligibility assessment which will check your coursework to make sure you’re eligible to be a CCLS.

Bachelor’s degree

It can be in any field of study but must be completed by your certification exam date. Many child life specialists have a Master’s degree because they either wanted to further their education in the field, desired the mentorship and opportunities offered by a graduate level program, discovered child life after undergrad and needed an opportunity to take all the classes, or wanted to be a more competitive applicant for internships or jobs.

OPTIONAL: Practicum

A practicum is a 100 hour shadowing experience under the supervision of a child life specialist. They’re offered by most hospitals that have child life departments, as well as other settings like community outreach programs, hospices, and camps. I’ve even heard of virtual practicums! Practicums are generally completed during the student’s undergrad or sometimes in grad school. In my opinion, it’s the most valuable pre-internship experience you can have. Even though it’s no longer required by the ACLP, most child life specialists would still highly recommend one.

Internship

A child life internship is the last requirement in order to sit for the certification exam. It is a 600-hour clinical experience in which you gradually gain independence as a child life specialist. It’s your first opportunity to actually be hands-on and facilitate interventions with patients. During internship, you usually complete multiple rotations under the supervision of multiple child life specialists.

Exam

The certification exam is 150 multiple choice questions that test your understanding and practical application of child life concepts. Getting to the exam is much harder than the exam itself if you ask me!