Offering realistic choices

Why offer choices?

Choices offer people control over their environment. When a child is facing a stressful situation, such as a medical procedure, they usually aren’t in control of the situation. The child’s doesn’t have many choices. The medical staff have decided what procedure is necessary and how that procedure needs to be done. When we offer children choices that they can make, such as which arm to look at first or what color bandage they would like, it gives them a sense of control over what’s happening.

Be realistic about the choices you offer

When you’re offering choices to a child, make sure that those choices are realistic. Don’t ask the child, “do you want your IV in now?” because they don’t have a choice to say no. The IV needs to happen to give them important medicine. Present choices that offer the child a sense of control but are also realistic. Which arm would you like me to look at first? Do you want me to count or not? Do you want to look or look away?

Another example is getting children on the exam table. Whether they get on the table or not isn’t a choice since they will need to be there for the x-ray or other medical procedure. “Want to get up on my exam table?” wouldn’t work because no is not an okay answer. But an easy way to reword the question would be say “Do you want to get up on the table by yourself or should I help you?” This way the child can pick either choice since both options are realistic.

How do you offer your patients control during their medical procedures? I’d love to hear your ideas!

 

Fabulous Find Friday: TFH Special Needs Toys

Today’s Fabulous Find Friday is TFH Special Needs Toys which is a great resource if you are looking for sensory toys for your children or patients. TFH Special Needs Toys has a wide variety of sensory toys that support children’s development through play. Some children struggle with sensory issues and other children need extra support when learning life skills, TFH Special Needs Toys provides the support that those children need. Their products range from sensory walls and bubble tubes to smaller items like fidget cubes and feelings cards.

Check out their full range of products at specialneedstoys.com.

My Favorite Distraction….Theme Songs!

As some of you might have noticed, I always include a show’s theme song in my Crash Course posts. This is because one of my favorite distraction tools is the theme songs of children’s TV shows. There’s a couple reasons for this: 1) I always have my voice 2) All kids know their favorite show’s theme song and 3) Singing distracts and calms all ages.

1) They are always with me because I can sing whenever and wherever 

Sometimes I’m called into a room suddenly and I don’t have time to grab distraction toys. Other times we’re halfway through a procedure and the patient is distractible, but they have a short attention span so I need to keep switching up what I’m doing. And finally there are times when I’m using my distractions toys but they aren’t working. Although I’m not going to be joining any choirs or competing on American Idol, I can sing the Paw Patrol theme song well enough to keep a kid’s attention.

2) It’s something familiar for the kids because they all know the theme song of their favorite shows

The advantage to having a variety of distraction toys is that we often have something the patients haven’t seen before. Unique toys that the child isn’t familiar with or doesn’t have at home can be the best distraction because it keeps the child’s attention. But that doesn’t work for all patients and sometimes the new environment is stressful enough and the child wants things that they are familiar with, like a comfort person or favorite stuffed animal. The theme song of their favorite show can be a familiar thing that also engages them.

3) Singing distracts and calms all ages

The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages that media usage be minimal for young children. Because of this, I prefer to use toys to engage my toddlers in play during their procedures instead of playing a favorite show on the iPad. Because many young children do watch TV at home, singing the theme song can be a way to tie in their favorite show without using the iPad.

Check out all our Crash Courses to meet the characters of popular children’s shows and learn their theme songs! My personal favorite songs are Paw Patrol and Daniel Tiger’s theme songs! Comment below and let me know your favorite theme songs!

Fabulous Find Friday: Okee in Medical Imaging

I recently discovered a fabulous app that I want to share with you all, Okee in Medical Imaging. Medical Imaging is one of the hospital departments that the majority of patients interact with since x-rays, CTs and MRIs are often the first step when assessing and diagnosing a patient. As a Child Life Specialist in Medical Imaging, my job is to prep patients for imaging studies and then help them cope during those procedures. We have many patients who are scared of x-rays and CTs, although nothing touches them or hurts during these pictures. My role is to talk to the patients about what is going to happen and help them realize that it won’t hurt, but I have limited time in the outpatient setting to do this. Today’s Fabulous Find Friday was something I found that I want to encourage parents/caregivers and other Child Life Specialists to use to educate and prepare patients for an upcoming trip to Medical Imaging.

This fabulous app is called Okee in Medical Imaging. Okee was created by the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne to help parents prepare their children for visiting medical imaging through educational videos and interactive games. These games encourage patients to practice skills like holding still and taking deep breaths. The app also includes real pictures of what the “cameras” might look like. Although this app was designed specifically with the Royal Children’s Hospital in mind, the lessons it teaches patients and it’s ability to normalize medical imaging procedures applicable to everyone.

Okee in Medical Imaging is available in the App Store and also on Google Play.

Fabulous Find Friday: Luke’s Fastbreaks

Today’s Fabulous Find is Luke’s FastBreaks, an organization that works to help pediatric oncology patients feel like children instead of patients when they are in the hospital. Luke’s FastBreaks does this by replacing boring hospital gowns with fun medical shirts. These shirts are designed to make it easy for children to wear while they also have their port accessed and other lines that they might have while hospitalized. The shirt has special snap tape on the sides that makes it easy to open and close as needed to take care of the patient’s lines while also helping the child feel as normal as possible during their hospitalization.

Luke fought cancer and won and now he’s giving back with the shirts that were created to help him cope with his hospitalization.  As Child Life Specialists, we know how hard it is for patients (especially teens) to wear the hospital gowns during their long stays. These patients want to be comfortable during their stay and Luke’s special medical shirts helps patients do just that.

Check out LukesFastBreaks.org  to learn more about what the organization does and how to help get shirts for your patients.

Crying to Cope

It’s okay to cry! We hear this discussed when talking about expressing feelings and coping and it applies to the hospital setting. There are many ways to cope with a stressful situation and sometimes crying is a child’s coping mechanism.

As Child Life Specialists, our role is to support a patient’s coping. Through play and relaxation techniques, we attempt to engage the patient and distract them during a stressful situation. But sometimes the patient isn’t distractible. Sometimes no amount of education will calm the patient or help them take their mind off what’s happening. When the patient reaches this point, we can still support them.

One of the most powerful things we as Child Life Specialists can do is hold a patient’s hand and let them know that it’s okay to cry. It’s okay to be scared. When a child is feeling overwhelmed, crying can be their form of communication. It can be their way to telling others that they’re scared, stressed and feeling overwhelmed. I was helping a preschooler with an x-ray the other day who chose screaming to cope. She allowed staff to position her for the chest x-ray and held still, but chose to let off short piercing screams to communicate with staff. Yes her screams hurt my ears, but she held still and got through her x-ray.

While crying is okay, what’s not okay is for patients to pull away or fight the medical staff who are trying to help them. When my patients are tearful before procedures, I like to remind them that it’s okay to cry if they want to. But if they pull their arm away during the IV or they fight the positioning for their x-ray, it will take longer and be more painful. It’s important with children to set clear rules and expectations. Crying is okay, fighting with the staff is not okay.

 

Fabulous Find Friday: Pabs Packs

Today’s Fabulous Find Friday is PABS PACKS. PABS PACKS was created to provide comfort to hospitalized teens. When the founders, Pia and Abbie, were each diagnosed with illnesses that left them hospitalized, they realized that there was a lack of comfort items for teens that are in the hospital. These strong survivors chose to change that and started making comfort packages to send to hospitalized teens. These backpacks have items specially chosen to comfort and distract teens during their hospital stay.

To learn more, check out www.pabspacks.org.

Fabulous Find Friday: Little Wishes

There are a variety of wish programs for chronic or terminal pediatric patients, including Make-A-Wish and Children’s Wish Foundation, that offer large wishes to patients. But there are other organizations, like today’s Fabulous Find Friday, that focus on smaller wishes that make a difference for patients. Little Wishes makes smaller wishes come true, like a princess dress or a musical instrument. The benefit of smaller wishes is that Little Wishes can fulfill patient’s wishes more often. Every 14 days, a child can make another small wish to make their hospitalization a little more bearable.

Check out littlewishes.org/about to learn more.

Getting your Masters

I passed the Child Life certification exam in March 2018 and began grad school in August 2018. One question that I often get is why get my masters when I’m already certified and working as a Child Life Specialist?

The main reason I went back to school is that I’m a strong supporter of continuing education. So although I’ve reached the goal of working as a Certified Child Life Specialist, I don’t think that I’m done learning. In fact, I’m nowhere near done learning! A masters program seemed like the natural step, especially considering that my undergrad was in Psychology versus Child Life. I’ve spent a lot of time focusing on and learning more about the field of Child Life, such as completing the University of California Santa Barbara’s Child Life Certificate and attending many regional and national conferences. But getting my Masters in Child Development with a concentration in Child Life offers me a stronger foundation in a blend of child development and pediatric support in the healthcare setting.

I also was excited to start my program while I am working in the field because I think that it gives me a unique perspective. When I was a student and learned about child development or child life theory and practice, it was theoretical. I could imagine how it would be used or read research about how preparation and medical play supports a patient’s coping. Now that I am working in the field, I see these thing every day. When I learn something new about child development, I can recognize that in my patients at work the following day. When we discuss medical play or developmentally appropriate preparation, I have a variety of examples to call upon where a patient coped well or didn’t cope at all with the stressful situation. I have seen times when distraction works perfectly and supports a patient’s coping, and I have also seen times when the patient refused to cope and no amount of distraction was successful.

If you are debating whether to return to school or not, I highly recommend it! Learning more about the child development and the field can only help you grow as an individual and as a professional.

The Association of Child Life Processionals offers a listing of Child Life Academic Programs to help you get started.

Fabulous Find Friday: Child’s Play

We all know how popular video games are and many of us have probably also read the research that too much video games can have negative affects on a child’s development. But for hospitalized children, video games can also provide many benefits. Besides the entertainment aspect for those children who can’t leave the hospital, these interactive games can also help patients cope with stressful situations and invasive procedures.

Child’s Play is an organization that provides video games and toys for hospitalized children and also domestic violence shelters. Through working with the hospital to create Amazon wishlists and also utilizing cash donations, Child’s Play creates play opportunities for hospitalized children throughout the world.

Visit http://childsplaycharity.org/ to learn more about this wonderful organization.

Also check out Child’s Play Therapeutic Video Game guide which offers video games suggestions based on related therapeutic goals.