We know it can be scary when your child needs to go to the hospital. UW Health Kids child life specialists help your child and family cope with any fears and anxieties.

Our team includes specialists trained in child and teen development. We explain medical procedures and diagnoses in an appropriate way for each child to understand for their age and development. We use play and other distractions to make your child’s time in the hospital as positive as possible.

When we work with teens, we empower them with tools and resources to create a coping plan for return to home and school. We also help teens as they transition to adult care.

Child-centered services 

We provide a wide range of activities, guidance, services and spaces to keep your child comfortable and relaxed and to support your family. They include:

  • Adjustment to hospitalization

  • Coping techniques

  • Daily activities

  • Education and resources for difficult conversations with children

  • Emotional support

  • Medical play

  • Memory making and legacy building

  • New diagnosis teaching

  • Pain control and comfort measures

  • Playrooms and teen lounges (24-hour) 

  • Preparation for surgery

  • Procedure support

  • Self-expression activities

  • Sibling support and education

  • Special events and visitors

  • Therapeutic activities

  • Trauma support

Certified child life specialists are trained clinicians who focus on a patient and family’s emotional safety during medical experiences, aiming to promote empowerment, understanding and reduce the possibility of medical trauma. Certified child life specialists help with:

  • Education/preparation – Educate patients and families in developmentally appropriate ways about experiences in the hospital.

  • Coping with procedures and hospitalizations – Create coping plans that include preparation, distraction, comfort positions, normalization and play to reduce the negative impact of hospitalization on a child’s development.

  • Play – Use play as a tool for children to learn about and process through their experiences in the hospital.

  • Sibling support – Help siblings of ill children understand their sibling’s diagnosis and prepare them for visits.

  • Family-centered care – An illness to a child impacts the whole family, and our model of care supports the whole family as they cope through a hospital experience.

Our child life assistants offer opportunities for play and normalization in the hospital. They provide bedside activities, playroom activities and special events to make sure kids continuing learning and developing in the hospital.

Music is naturally engrained across various cultural affiliations, and the life span of all developmental ages. It can also access multiple areas of the brain simultaneous and therefore, can be inherently healing. Music therapy is an evidenced-based practice that uses individualized assessment and treatment plan to address a variety of your child’s goals, including:

  • Reducing stress and anxiety

  • Decreasing pain perception

  • Promote memory/legacy making

  • Normalizing the environment

  • Promote development

  • Enhancing self-expression

  • Supporting functional motor, cognitive, or speech skills

  • Improving mood

  • Alternate engagement during medical procedures

  • Promote family connection and bonding

  • Promoting autonomy

Music therapy sessions can vary from passively listening to actively creating and may include:

  • Playing instruments

  • Songwriting

  • Singing

  • Music for relaxation

  • Listen and talking about music

  • Creating playlists

  • Moving or dancing to music

  • Creating recordings

  • Learning a new instrument

About our music therapist

Music therapists are trained health care professionals designated by the credential MT-BC. Music therapy is a bachelors entry level position from an accredited university, with six-month full time internship and board certification exam. Others may pursue additional education with masters or doctoral in music therapy as well. For more information about music therapy education visit American Music Therapy Association or Certification Board for Music Therapists.

Our cosmetologist that works in our positive image center works with your child to ease anxiety about appearance-altering conditions, treatments or procedures. Services include:

  • Haircuts for patients experience hair loss or extended hospitalization

  • Guidance for coping with hair loss, including wig fitting/applications, hats and head coverings

  • Wig cutting and styling

  • Temporary hair color – hair chalk/spray (removed after one wash) or clip in extensions

  • EEG glue removal, hair detangling and washing

  • Braiding and hair styling to prevent tangles

  • Nail filing, polish and nail art sticker application

  • Temporary tattoos

Through partnership with the Madison Metropolitan School District, school teachers help children in 4K through high school keep up with their school work while in the hospital.

Our facility dogs are expertly trained canines who are partnered with staff handlers to assist with goal-orientated interventions that address the physical and psychosocial needs of patients and families.

Smiling child with sign reading UW Health Kids
UW Health Kids
Our pediatric experts have served the special needs of children for more than 100 years. We focus on each child’s unique needs and offer social and emotional support to help you and your child face even the most complex condition. Our long history includes the creation of medical advances that save lives around the world. Together, we get your child back to health and enjoying being a kid.

Our child life program is entirely funded through the generous support of donors. You can support our child life team to help patients and families cope with their hospitalization and bring normalcy and diversion during their visit. To make a gift, visit our giving site.

Donations of toys or items (brand new and from a smoke free and pet free home) can be dropped off from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. to valet staff on behalf of child life. For more specific information about donations please reference this document. Learn more about donation information (pdf).

You can also directly donate the most needed in-kind items for our patients by visiting our Amazon registry. Items are shipped directly to our hospital.

For questions, please email childlifedonationsspecialevents@uwhealth.org or call (608)-206-6817.

You can work with our child life team to prepare your child for a hospital stay or surgery. Steps you can take include:

  • Helping your child understand what will happen with our teaching sheets (below). Please contact afchchildlife@uwhealth.org if the upcoming procedure is not included and more information is desired.

  • Talking with your child and encouraging questions

Child life has many resources, books, and communication tips to support your child’s developmental level. Child life can be requested anywhere in the American Family Children’s Hospital.

What to bring

Bringing items of comfort and familiarity with you to the hospital can help ease the transition to a place that is less familiar to your child. Blankets, stuffed animals, and items for sleep routines are all encouraged. Even preferred electronics and their chargers can help.

Caring Canines is our volunteer therapy dog program that provides normalization and social visits for patients and families with certified therapy dogs.

Learn more about Caring Canines

We work with your child to ease anxiety about appearance-altering conditions or procedures.

We provide space and programming where siblings of ill children can interact with other siblings. If you have questions or would like to schedule an appointment with Tyler’s Place, please call (608) 890-8037.

We have many friendly volunteers who interaction and play with patients and provide support to families.

We offer a child life internship for aspiring child life specialists. Please visit the career page to learn more about our child life internship.

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    different crop - keep both portrait
    American Family Children's Hospital
    • 1675 Highland Ave / Madison, WI
    • (608) 263-7337
  • The gray exterior and white "UW Health" sign of East Madison Hospital
    The gray exterior and white "UW Health" sign of East Madison Hospital
    East Madison Hospital
    • 4602 Eastpark Blvd / Madison, WI
    • (608) 440-6400