Child life Practicum or Pre-Internship
A child life professional is a key player in ensuring a child’s well being during treatment and hospitalization, providing support, education and comfort that can prevent anxiety from becoming overwhelming. The hospital can seem a bewildering and alien atmosphere both to children and to their families who may already be stressed as they try to cope with a difficult diagnosis. Child life specialists use a variety of skillful strategies to help children and families cope, which improves their ability to heal, both physically and emotionally.
The Child Life Department is committed to providing quality education and training to future child life professionals who will play this crucial role.
Practicums are organized to give you the opportunity to gain insight into to the child life profession and exposure to the skills and techniques required. They’re also designed to help you understand the unique needs of hospitalized children and families and the important role you can play.
The child life practicum at Children’s Medical Center Dallas campus is 160 hours. During the spring and fall semesters, the experience occurs two days a week over 10 weeks. For the summer session, it occurs four times a week over a 5-week period. Your clinical supervisor, the student programming committee, and child life specialists will help to instruct and guide you throughout this experience.
Download a Practicum Information Packet (pdf)
Requirements
Application Requirements
To be considered as a candidate for a Child Life Practicum, you will be required to meet the following criteria. At the time of application, you must:
Be enrolled as a current student at a university (and remain enrolled during the practicum). Please note that at this time, we are unable to enter into new affiliation agreements. View the List of Universities in current affiliation agreements with Children's Health. Please do not submit your application as no exceptions can be made by our hospital
Have experience working with children. This experience can be virtual or in person and can include volunteer and/or paid experiences
Have a minimum 3.0 MAJOR GPA
Applicants must have completed at least 15 hours of related course work.
Applicants must now list 3 of the 5 required courses on the application as the courses listed in the table below, which include completion of the play course, 1 child development course and child life course. These 3 courses can be in progress at the time of the practicum application, but must be completed by the start of the practicum experience.
The table below shows the courses the Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP) require candidates to sit for the Child Life Certification examination. Please view the eligibility requirements for the exam (pdf) for more details on these changes.
How to Apply
1. Complete the ACLP Internship Readiness Common Application
Complete the SACLP Common Child Life Practicum Application (pdf)
The application components you will complete include:
Completion of the downloaded SACLP Application (pdf) (pages 1 – 8 completed by the applicant)
Unofficial University transcripts from all Universities
One-page resume/CV
Two Reference forms (pdf) (pages 9 – 10 of SACLP PDF)
If the required courses are not completed at the time of applying to the practicum then the candidate must submit a Course in Progress Form (pdf). The 3 required courses must be complete by the time the practicum experience starts (page 11 of SACLP PDF)
2. Submit the downloaded application and additional documents via email
Once the SACLP application has been completed, applicants can submit the PDF, the one-page resume, unofficial University transcripts, and the course in progress form (if applicable) by emailing it to
practicumapplications@childrens.comThe Email subject line should state the practicum session (winter/spring, fall, summer) and the year.
**Please note that currently, we are unable to enter into new affiliation agreements. View the List of Universities in current affiliation agreements with Children's Health
. If your school is not on this list, then you will not be eligible to apply with us at this time.**
Please contact us at
practicumapplications@childrens.com if you have any questions.
3. Two reference form submissions
Utilize the SACLP Common Reference Form (pdf) - reference forms must be emailed directly by the person completing the reference by the due dates listed below.
Applicants are required to have a reference form completed by a school advisor or instructor/professor
Deadlines
Be sure that you complete and submit your online application by 12 midnight CST on the deadline date listed below. Your two reference forms much also be emailed by the person writing the reference by 12 midnight CST on the deadline date listed below. Any application or references received late will not be considered and no exceptions will be made to this.
Interview Process
