The Child Life Specialist emphasis prepares students to support child development and family coping within the context of pediatric illness, injury, medical treatment, and grief in a variety of health care and community settings. Child life specialists use therapeutic play, psychological preparation, and coping skills interventions to help reduce the anxiety and stress related to illness, disability, hospitalization and medical procedures. Through a family-centered care approach, they provide parents and other family members reassurance and emotional support, help them understand psychosocial needs, and provide tools to help them prevent or minimize psychological trauma. Courses focus on understanding normal and exceptional child and family development, effective methods of working with children and families, as well as integration of theory and research into hands-on clinical practice experiences. In addition to a 100-hour practicum experience (selection is on a competitive, space-available basis) at MU’s Children’s Hospital, the student’s last semester is spent off-campus completing a 600-hour, unpaid clinical internship in a pediatric hospital setting. Students who successfully complete the degree program are eligible to take the Child Life Professional Certification Exam presented by the Child Life Certification Commission (CLCC) after graduation.
Common Career Paths
You can do nearly anything with a Mizzou degree, but here are some common career paths taken by graduates of this major:
*Price shown is for indicative purposes, please check with institution
19 August 2024
College of Human Environmental Sciences
106 Gwynn Hall,
COLUMBIA,
Missouri,
65211, United States
Students must complete High School Coursework with 13 units (one unit = one year in class) of the following core coursework: Mathematics - Four units (algebra or higher), Science - Three units, Social Studies - Three units, Languages - Two units, Fine Arts - One unit.
High School grades
Your core coursework grades must meet one of the following requirements:
If your high school does not use one of the scales listed above, your grades will be converted to a U.S. 4.0 scale. Scores are determined by the AACRAO International Education Services.
English Language Requirements:
Duolingo English Test (DET): minimum DET score of 130 on the test with 3 of the 4 section scores at or above a 100.
Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL): minimum TOEFL score of 100 on the online test with no section score below 17.
International English Language Testing System (IELTS): minimum IELTS score of 7.0 with no section score below a 6.
Cambridge English C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency: a minimum overall Cambridge English C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency score of 190.
Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE): a minimum overall PTE score of 65.
*There may be different IELTS requirements depending on your chosen course.
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