Teaching

Child Life United: Practicums & Missions Abroad

~ debvilasconsult ~ Leave a comment

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Ever since I first stepped off a plane in New Zealand over three years ago, I have become fascinated by what my profession looks like in other countries. Whether you call it Child Life, Hospital Play or Pediatric Psychosocial Healthcare, I have learned that there are many ways to ease the stress of medical treatment for children across the globe. I was in conversation recently with a mover and shaker in the Child Life world, Courtney Moreland, founder of Child Life United. Courtney has been busy creating practicums in partnership with child life programs on the international front, in addition to coordinating child life volunteer positions in her mission work.

Courtney noticed an increasing level of competition for a sparse number of practicums in the United States. Tapping into a growing interest within our field in international work, she came up with the idea of partnering with child life professionals abroad to create more practicum opportunities for budding child life specialists.

First stop — the Middle East! Courtney teamed up with Bank Street College alum, Rachel Werner, a child life specialist pioneer working for Save a Child’s Heart in Israel. Courtney supplied supervision for practicum students, while the students shadowed Rachel in her day to day work. This way, students benefited from Rachel’s modeling, and Courtney shouldered the responsibilities of supervision and training. Courtney provides a curriculum and leads the students in reflective practice. This unique set up means that the students get 100% of Courtney’s attention, energy and expertise, while Rachel can concentrate on her clinical duties. Anyone who has ever supervised or precepted a student knows that this is a win win for everyone. The pilot rolled out this Spring with three students as a one month, full time practicum. They were from America, Canada, and an expat now living in Israel.

Rachel reflects: “I loved the novel idea from the beginning and Courtney’s initiative to bring child life specialists around the world to learn, even to places like Israel where Child Life is not a known field. Although Save a Child’s Heart is an alternative setting, we agreed that it could be a one-of-a-kind learning experience for students seeking an international practicum. In the end I know a lot was learned, and the children will remember the three wonderful women (four including Courtney) when they think back of their time in Israel.”

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Courtney and Rachel – A fabulous partnership!
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Playing doctor

All Child Life United Practicums will follow the Recommended Standards as set forth by the Association of Child Life Professionals – ACLP (formally the Child Life Council)

Child Life Practicum
The child life practicum is designed as an introductory experience for individuals interested in pursuing a career in child life. Through experiential learning and observation of Certified Child Life Specialists, child life practicum students begin to increase their knowledge of basic child life skills related to play, developmental assessment, and integration of child life theory into interventions with infants, children, youth and families. Child life practicum students will increase their comfort level by interacting with infants, children, youth, and families in stressful situations, health care settings and/or in programs designed for special needs populations.  Through these experiences, child life practicum students will enhance their knowledge of the child life profession and investigate the process of applying child life and developmental theory to practice.  

The next practicum will be held in Sydney, Australia this summer. You can find details in the  Student Information Packet – Australia Practicum. Courtney seeks applicants who have completed 100 hours of volunteer work in a child life department. It is a plus if you have at least one child life course under your belt, but it is not required.

Applications are DUE June 1st, 2017

The application is also located on the Child Life United website www.childlifeunited.org

Mission Work

This summer Courtney is also happy to announce the exciting opportunity to serve as a Child Life Specialist on a medical mission trip. Missions are typically a week long.

In August, she will be supervising Child Life students on a mission to Mexico as Child Life United brings Child Life services to Florence Nightingale Global Health Missions .

This trip requires a fundraising effort to collect the teaching supplies and toys needed to meet the needs of the kids and their families. All trips provide medical care in grossly under served areas of the world. Please consider supporting this effort. Every sticker, ball and mask masks a difference.

She has created a Wish List on Amazon of supplies needed.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/307DPAFB2HQZG/ref=nav_wishlist_lists_2

If you are looking for a child life adventure abroad that will further your learning and expand your horizons, all in the service of easing the healthcare experiences of children, please contact Courtney at Child Life United to apply.

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We can’t wait to hear where she will be partnering next!

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Parallel Process – A Rap Love Song to My Job

~ debvilasconsult ~ 4 Comments

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During this past academic year,  fellow faculty members met in small inquiry groups to study our work in the advisement of graduate students in supervised fieldwork. The process was reflective, exciting, daunting and helpful. How do we assist graduate students in developing their personal and professional selves as they prepare to work in public and private schools, museums and hospitals? The lyrics to this song came to me as I tried to wrap my brain around the work that we do – and how to represent it to others who have never experienced the challenges and joys of advisement, as either a graduate student or a faculty member. Here is what came to me in the middle of a sleepless night.

 

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Get Ready to Play!

~ debvilasconsult ~ 6 Comments

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Okay, so call me a nerd. Few things bring me more joy than teaching a subject that I love with a colleague who has even more passion and enthusiasm for the subject than I do. I have had the pleasure over the years of co-teaching with many wonderful and talented colleagues – Betsy Wilford, Elizabeth Laureano, Edna Garces, Karen Marschke-Tobier, Caitlin Koch and Jon Luongo, to name a few. In each of those situations, whether it was Sunday school, a therapeutic nursery school, graduate school, in another country, or at a conference, I became a better teacher within the partnership than I ever would have been alone.

And now, as I prepare for my upcoming gig at the Child Life Council’s 34th Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida next week, I celebrate the colleagues that I will be teaming up with.  Continue reading →

Driving the Camel: Installment #8

~ debvilasconsult ~ 1 Comment

 

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Once the conference began, I was surrounded by like-minded professionals, everyone eager to learn and share.  In order to earn my keep, I was slotted to present three times on three topics, the first a workshop on play techniques to use with angry or withdrawn children. The audience was receptive and participants volunteered readily to assist me in demonstrating several activities. They shared what made them angry, hurled wet toilet paper at a paper target, and erupted a play dough volcano with glee.  Continue reading →

Paper Tigers

~ Deb Vilas ~ 4 Comments

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What are paper tigers? Well, they refer to a byproduct of trauma. When kids grow up in environments where toxic stress is an everyday occurrence, their brains wire to keep them in a constant state of fight or flight. They are perpetually on edge, vigilant in assessing their surroundings for dangers, real or imagined. The imagined dangers are paper tigers, not real but emanating from traumatic experiences and just as threatening as a raised fist or an unwanted touch.

The documentary Paper Tigers depicts a school in Walla Walla Washington where teachers and leaders have found a new way to reach and teach kids who see paper tigers around every corner. Instead of responding to acting out teens with punishing discipline, they seek to understand the adverse childhood experiences or ACEs that effect their students and get in the way of their learning.

More than two decades ago, two respected researchers, clinical physician Dr. Vincent Felitti and CDC epidemiologist Robert Anda, published the game-changing Adverse Childhood Experiences Study. It revealed a troubling but irrefutable phenomenon: the more traumatic experiences the respondents had as children (such as physical and emotional abuse and neglect), the more likely they were to develop health problems later in life—problems such as cancer, heart disease, and high blood pressure. To complicate matters, there was also a troubling correlation between adverse childhood experiences and prevalence of drug and alcohol abuse, unprotected sex, and poor diet. Combined, the results of the study painted a staggering portrait of the price our children are paying for growing up in unsafe environments, all the while adding fuel to the fire of some of society’s greatest challenges.    (http://kpjrfilms.co/paper-tigers/about-the-film/)

Adverse Childhood Experiences include eight experiences that impact future health and longevity of children. They fall into three categories: Abuse, Neglect and Household Dysfunction. The eight ACEs are physical, emotional or sexual abuse, physical or emotional neglect, and whether mental illness, the incarceration of a relative, domestic violence, substance abuse or divorce are present in the home environment. The more ACEs present, the worse the outcome.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that something can be done. Trauma informed therapy and emotionally responsive teaching are two interventions that can buld resiliency in children facing traumatic stress.

Last night I had the pleasure of sitting on a panel made up of policy makers and practitioners  who work tirelessly to address the inequities that perpetuate toxic environments for large numbers of our country’s children. The US rates number two in developed countries for  how many children live in poverty, second only to Romania. In my eyes that is nothing short of a crime. Poverty is the single highest variable coralated with ACEs.

We screened the movie for a standing room only audience at the Grace Church School in Cooper Square in lower Manhattan. Moderator Andrew Solomon, the Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity, led us in a lively discussion of the film, fielding questions from an audience of parents, teachers and community leaders.The event was sponsored by many schools and community organizations, including The First Presbyterian Church, Go Project, St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, NIP Professional Association, Academy of St. Joseph, Prevent Child Abuse New York and the Corlears School. The room was filled with caring citizens who want to see change. Teachers spoke about their own trauma in working with troubled children in broken schools with no resources or administrative support.

Joy Farina Foskett, the organizer of this important event, reminded us all that ACEs cross all socioeconomic boundaries and exist in every culture. Some of the panelists themselves spoke to the ACE of divorce in their own families. We listed some valuable resources in the program: community organizations, websites and books. Included in the list are “Divorce is the Worst” and “Death is Stupid”, two great books by Anastasia Higginbotham, that help adults open up important conversations with children who may suffer alone through painful ACEs. Kathleen McCue’s “How to help Children Through a Parent’s serious Illness” is another great resource to assist parents and teachers.

Trauma informed, emotionally responsive teaching seems like a no brainer. It doesn’t cost more money, and it prevents costly medical care, incarceration and strengthens our country’s most valuable asset, our children. If it worked with teens who’d already been labeled as unreachable and no good, how much more could it do within early childhood settings? In Early Intervention?

We were all left with one question on our minds. Why isn’t every school in the country following in the footsteps of Lincoln Alternative High School? What are we waiting for?

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Growing Play Work in the Czech Republic

~ Deb Vilas ~ Leave a comment

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The red rooftops of Prague and the Malejovice countryside were a welcome sight this week as I rejoined the Kralovec family in their dream to grow Hospital Play Work in the Czech Republic .

As the Klicek Foundation enters their 25th year, they celebrate not only their anniversary but their entry into a new phase of their mission. In collaboration with Charles University and the Plzen School of Nursing, they are developing a college level program on Play Work, the first of its kind in their country. This is all in addition to the work they do in hospitals for ill children and their families, and the summer camp they run for these families each year. (Click on “summer camp for a beautiful view of the property where they live and work in Malejovice, filmed by Jiri Kralovec, Jiri’s son).

As part of this vision, they invited me to consult with them about curriculum and to teach two seminars on child centered play, a topic that Marketa Kralovec says is much needed in their culture.

“It is such a necessary but unheard of thing here, to follow the child’s lead in play,” she states with feeling.

And so we got down on the floor with play dough, Legos, army figurines and plastic monsters, demonstrating child centered play techniques and then practicing them together.  We also drew play maps, shared stories of our childhood memories of play, played hand games and blew lip whistles –  the hours passed quickly

The Caritas School of Social Services hosted our first seminar. The head of the school, Martin Bednar, welcomed us warmly, expressing his gratitude by presenting me with the book Destinies as hard as stone,  about a sculpture in the school courtyard – The Monument of Stories.  A wooden series of towers house stones from around the world on many small shelves.  Students bring stones from their internships to represent a story that affected them deeply in their learning.  The school gathers for each installment to hear and record the student’s narrative. It is an incredible tribute to the work of students and the people who’ve shaped their lives.

“We are like stones in a river. If alone, the water will wash us away. Together, however, we make up a dam.”

 

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Our second  day of teaching took place in a medieval building overlooking Wenceslas Square in the heart of Prague. Throughout our seminar occasional strains of church bells and the hoofbeats of horse-drawn carriages drifted up to the windows from the cobblestones below. I couldn’t take my eyes off the ceiling of the room, which was crossed by beams of ancient wood and hand painted panels depicting whimsical animal scenes.

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Our students in these two venues included  both undergraduates and working play workers. They showed great passion for the children and families in their care, and a willingness to ask tough questions and share painful memories and struggles. Throughout the students’ stories ran a common thread of the childhood desire for self expression, adventure and kind attention from adults. Child-centered practice definitely fits in with this ideal.   The participants truly brought all of themselves to the learning.  I couldn’t have enjoyed a more engaging and thoughtful group. Not to mention Jiri Kralovec, who was a tireless interpreter, translating my every word.

Please enjoy the photos below, and remember the Klicek Foundation during this holiday season. If you wish to make a donation to this humane and critical work, you can contact Jiri & Marketa, the founders, at klicek@klicek.org for more information.

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Thanks to Jiri Kralovec Junior for capturing our seminars with his wonderful photography

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taming Tantrums

~ Deb Vilas ~ 6 Comments

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Parenting is never easy – it may just be the toughest job in the history of the world. As a mother of two young boys, and a pediatric social worker, Randi Goldfarb  has seen a lot of tantrums in and out of hospitals.

I found that tantrum behavior is universal, and no one knows what to do. Then as a parent, I couldn’t control my own child’s tantrum.

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Randi put on her thinking cap, asking herself how do you help a child calm down  and keep calm? Then she put on her creativity cap and rolled up her sleeves. The result is the keep calm kit©. Continue reading →

Retraining my Brain

~ Deb Vilas ~ 6 Comments

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I had surgery last week to repair a tendon in my right wrist, which happens to be my dominant hand. With my hand wrapped up like a giant cocoon, I am learning a few lessons quickly.

  1. There are many daily tasks that we perform without much attention or awareness.
  2. My non-dominant left hand is slow and clumsy.
  3. I cannot multitask as I did before.
  4. I am slowing down to a methodical plod with each task.
  5. I am compensating by using my left hand a lot.
  6. This may not be such a bad thing.

“The non-dominant hand is actually linked to the non-dominant hemisphere in your brain – the one that isn’t exercised as often. There are studies that show that when you use your dominant hand, one hemisphere of the brain is active. When you use the non-dominant hand, both hemispheres are activated, which may result in thinking differently and becoming more creative.”http://www.goodfinancialcents.com/benefits-of-using-your-opposite-hand-grow-brain-cells-while-brushing-your-teeth/

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Learning from Hospital Play Specialist Hideko Konagaya in Japan

~ Deb Vilas ~ 1 Comment

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While teaching in Shizuoka, Japan, I had the pleasure of spending a morning with Hideko Konagaya, a hospital play specialist, at Shizuoka General Hospital.

Hideko hosted Maria Busqueta  (a child life specialist and psychologist from Mexico City) and me in her bright and cheery playroom. Professor Chika Matsudaira of Shizuoka University assisted us by translating so that we could all communicate.

When we entered the playroom, two preschoolers already sat at a small table busily making slime. The children and their mothers gave us permission to photograph them.

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Now I have made slime in my play course, but never slime as lovely as this! Hideko had set out brightly colored water in several plastic cups. She provided the boys with small glass jars (recycled baby food jars) and chopsticks for stirring. One at a time, Hideko and the children added rice glue, orange or lime essential oil for fragrance, sodium borate, and  a magical touch of glitter. The mixture came together to create a wonderful substance that smelled amazing and was positively addictive – no one could put it down or stop playing. The boys stirred like mad, and then ran the slime through their fingers until it hardened enough to hold shape. They used cookie cutters and plastic tools to manipulate it. I broke a cardinal rule of mine and touched one of the boy’s slime without asking. I just couldn’t help myself! He was a very good sport. Continue reading →

A Day with Hospital Play Specialist Kazue Goto in Japan

~ Deb Vilas ~ 1 Comment

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One of the best parts of my trip to Japan was the fact that I  learned more than I taught. Yes, I traveled there as a child life professor to teach play techniques to hospital play specialists (HPS). But they had just as many wonderful techniques to share with me, and I cannot wait to incorporate them into my teaching repertoire here in the States.

On our first day in Tokyo, Kazue Goto hosted Maria Busqueta and me at the National Rehabilitation Center for Children with Disabilities for a day of play with the inpatients on their orthopedic ward. She had prepared the children for our visit, and one by one, they approached us, shook our hands Western style, and introduced themselves by name. Kazue presented us with handmade name tags written in Japanese.

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I taught the kids how to play the American game “Spot It!”, and Maria taught them how to play Mexican Lotteria. We all made volcanoes together, and then the fun REALLY began. Kazue taught us all how to make poop.

Yes, you heard it right — we all made poop out of bran cereal. The activity is designed to teach kids about their digestive systems. Many hospitalized children have issues with constipation or diarrhea, and this activity brings up helpful discussion about self care and gives children a chance to normalize something that can cause great pain and embarrassment. Continue reading →