March is Child Life Month, and beginning in fall 2006, Ball State University's Department of Family and Consumer Sciences will offer a degree option that will prepare students to join the growing field of child life professionals.

Child life specialists are trained in child development and adhere to a philosophy of family-centered care. They work to ease the anxiety experienced by children and families undergoing challenging healthcare experiences and prepare children for medical procedures with developmentally appropriate explanations.

After consulting with the Child Life Council (CLC), the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences began developing a child life specialist option for students interested in becoming a part of this growing professional field.

"In the past few years we had enough students inquiring about this area that we contacted the Child Life Council and began looking into it," said Rebecca Adams, director of the family and child program. "We found there were no other programs in the state and there are job opportunities for students with this specialization."

The course work for the child life specialist option has been selected to meet the needs of students who are expected to seek out internships in hospitals. Adams notes that while the course work covers the topics suggested by the CLC, taking classes is not all that is involved in becoming a child life professional.

"What our program does is give our students a great opportunity to get internships in hospital settings so they can get certified by the CLC," Adams said.

For more information on Ball State's child life specialist program, contact Adams at 285-5924 or badams@bsu.edu. For more information on the CLC visit www.childlife.org.

(Note to editors: For more information, contact Adams at badams@bsu.edu or (765) 285-5924.)