Child Life Track
Work as a child life specialist
- Support children and families experiencing stressful situations by providing psychosocial care
- While most child life specialists work in healthcare settings, employment opportunities
are also growing in other community settings
- Healthcare settings: Hospitals, clinics, hospice/palliative care, transplant teams, behavioral health
- Community settings: Schools, private practice, advocacy centers, grief support, law enforcement, camps, disaster relief, prison systems
Degree options
Want to pursue the child life track? Review the program requirements for the exact courses you need to take.
Use the four-year plan below as a guide for your overall schedule.
- Four-year
- Transfer
- Accelerated master’s in child life studies
- Accelerated master’s in early childhood and family development
- Accelerated master's in educational technology
MSU Child Life Studies coursework is pre-approved by the Association of Child Life Professionals to meet the 10 course requirements required to sit for the Child Life Professional Certification Exam administered by the Child Life Certification Commission.
| Course Categories for Certification | UG Course(s) | |
|---|---|---|
| Family Systems | CFD 163 | Relationships in Today’s Families |
| Research | CFD 580 | Research Methods in CFD |
| Play | CFD 454 | Therapeutic Play Activities for Hospitalized Children |
| Loss/Bereavement | CFD 306 | Death, Separation, and Loss |
|
Child Development (includes 2 courses) |
CFD 160 | Principles of Development in Early Childhood |
| CFD 557 | Growth and Development: Middle Childhood to Adolescence | |
| Child Life course | CFD 354 | Working with the Hospitalized Child |
| Additional course options (must choose 3) | LLT 102 | Scientific and Medical Terminology |
| CFD 301 | Play as Development | |
| CFD 305 | Multicultural Studies in Child and Family Development | |
| CFD 353 | Childhood Illnesses, Injuries, Diseases and Disorders | |
| CFD 510 | Child Life Theory and Practice | |
Why take the child life track?
- Have a quicker path to a master’s degree and raise your career ceiling. The accelerated option in child life studies prepares you to become a certified child life specialist (CCLS).
- Have a rewarding career where you help others in difficult, life-changing times.
- Join a career field which needs workers. Find many job options within health care or similar settings.
Careers and outcomes
Be there for children and families when they need it most. Give support as they face
life-threatening medical events.
Internship
Apply classroom theory and learning to your future career field.
Helping you succeed
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