Katie Taylor, CCLS Child Life On Call for SmileMakers Inc

One of the most important jobs of a Child Life Specialist is to find and use tools that make educating about a diagnosis fun and engaging. Although education seems straight forward, just explaining information, in our field this is not the case. Many variables including the patient's mental status, the parents' understanding of what is happening, and previous experiences play into how a person can learn new information.

Our job is to educate in a way that makes sense, that is easy to remember, and simple to learn. Yikes! How on Earth do we do it? Well, creativity is important. Coming up with an individual plan for each child is key. How does that child learn best? What developmental level are they at? What do the parents want them to know? What keeps them engaged? One thing I like to do first is create a base of knowledge that we can build from and SmileMakers has a wonderful resource to help build that base.

This Parts of My Body Sticker Activity Sheet is great for all ages. It is a perfect visual for children to help identify major organs in the body and does a great job explaining what each organ does. I love to use this activity as a base and bring it with me anytime I am helping a patient and family understand a new diagnosis. In order to understand a diagnosis, you have to fully understand the body part that is being diagnosed and this sticker sheet really helps with that.

The back of this sheet is a fun way to measure what the child knows/learned. They can also use their creativity to color the page but also allows older children to practice recalling the organs with a word scramble, fill in the blank, and maze. The Parts of My Body sheet is a personal favorite of mine, and I continue to be amazed at all the ways we can use it to help educate children and families!