Our commitment to keeping you safe
We have never taken for granted the sacred trust you place in us to care for your child, and today we are more grateful than ever for that privilege. To learn about all the ways we are working to keep you, your family and our team members safe, visit our COVID-19 updates page.
A child life professional is a key player in ensuring a child’s well being during treatment and hospitalization, providing support, education and comfort that can prevent anxiety from becoming overwhelming. The hospital can seem a bewildering and alien atmosphere both to children and to their families who may already be stressed as they try to cope with a difficult diagnosis. Child life specialists use a variety of skillful strategies to help children and families cope, which improves their ability to heal, both physically and emotionally.
The Child Life Department is committed to providing quality education and training to future child life professionals who will play this crucial role. We promote diversity, equity and inclusion within our student program
Practicums are organized to give you the opportunity to gain insight into to the child life profession and exposure to the skills and techniques required. They’re also designed to help you understand the unique needs of hospitalized children and families and the important role you can play.
The Child Life Practicum at Children’s Medical Center Dallas campus takes place over 15 weeks (240 hours). You will be expected to work approximately 16 hours per week over two days (Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday). Your clinical supervisor, the practicum committee and child life specialists will be available to instruct and guide you throughout this experience.
Click here for a practicum information packet
There is no application fee to apply to our program. There is also no fee charged to students who are accepted to complete our practicum program.
Practicum curriculum involves both clinical and non-clinical requirements. You will be required to:
** All students completing a Child Life Practicum at Children’s Health must be fully vaccinated, including the COVID vaccine, prior to their start date **
To be considered as a candidate for a Child Life Practicum, you will be required to meet the following criteria. At the time of application, you must:
** All students completing a Child Life Practicum at Children’s Health must be fully vaccinated, including the COVID vaccine, prior to their start date **
| Min. Classes Required | Subject | Additional Notes/Requirements |
| 1 | Child Life | Must be taught by a CCLS who meets all ACLP requirements |
| 2 | Child Development | Birth - 18 yrs |
| 1 | Family Systems | |
| 1 | Play | |
| 1 | Loss/Bereavement of Death/Dying | |
| 1 | Research | |
| 3 | Additional courses in child life for related content areas | Recommended: Human Anatomy/Physiology, Medical Terminology, Ethics |
Click here to complete the online practicum application.
Please note that at this time, we are unable to enter into new affiliation agreements. Click here to view the list of current affiliation agreements we have with Universities. If your school is not on this list then you will not be eligible to apply with us at this time.
Note, that although the application is online, it is the TACLP Common Practicum Application that has been converted to an online format. We are excited to use this Common Application to ensure consistency for students in the region.Within the online application you will need to attach:
If the required courses are not completed at the time of applying to the practicum then the candidate must submit a Course in Progress Form. The 3 required courses must be complete by the time the practicum experience starts.
Please note that you will need to complete and submit the application at once, and will not be able to save it. Make sure you have all required documents and ready to submit it once you start the online application.
In addition to the online application, you must submit two completed reference forms using the attached form. These forms should be email to practicumapplications@childrens.com and should be emailed directly by the person completing the reference forms for you.
Please contact us at practicumapplications@childrens.com if you have any questions.
Be sure that you complete and submit your online application by 12 midnight CST on the deadline date listed below. Your two reference forms much also be emailed by the person writing the reference by 12 midnight CST on the deadline date listed below. Any application or references received late will not be considered and no exceptions will be made to this.
| For Practicum Starting | Application Deadline | Interview During | Applicant Notified By | Applicant Acceptance By |
| January | September 19 | September/October | 4th Tues in October | 24 hours after offer |
| May | January 19 | January/February | 4th Tues in February | 24 hours after offer |
| September | March 29 | April/May | 3rd Tues in May | 24 hours after offer |
After initial application screening, candidates will be notified via email re: their status of moving forward to phase 2, which is to participate in a short phone screen with a member from the practicum committee. Candidates selected to participate in the phone screen will schedule that via email and then the actual phone screen will be conducted over the phone. After all phone screens have been conducted, candidates will be notified via email re: their status of moving forward to phase 3, which is the formal interview. Candidates selected to participate in the formal interview will schedule their time slot via email and then the actual interview will be conducted via Zoom.
Ten candidates will be selected to participate in the formal interview process. At Children’s Health, we conduct Multi-Mini Interviews (MMI) where candidates rotate through 5 stations for 15 minutes at each station and meet with the interviewer individually. Candidates chosen for the interview can choose to participate during either the morning session (8am-11am) or afternoon session (12:30pm-3:30pm). Candidates must be available to stay for the entire time on the dates listed below. There will be a group information session and Q&A at the end. All interviews will be conducted virtually using Zoom for all candidates.
The 2023 interview dates are below:
February 23, 2023
May 11, 2023
October 19, 2023