Portfolio Table of Contents

• About Me

• Education Handbook: Hip Dysplasia

• PORT Placement Teaching Book

• Medical Play: Melting Elsa's Frozen Hands

• Grief Handbooks for Infant/Todders, School Age & Adolescents

• I Like, I Wish, I Wonder, I Worry: Emotional Expression Intervention

• What Fills my Cup: Emotional Expression Intervention

• D.I.Y. Distraction Kit

• Camp Ronald McDonald Activity Examples

• Creative Programming

• Research Project Proposal: The Impact of COVID-19 on Socio-Emotional Development Displayed in Pediatric Healthcare

• Undergraduate Senior Thesis

Below is an Education Handbook I created that can be given to a chid and family newly diagnosed with Hip Dysplasia.

Next, I have created a story book that can be used to educate and prepare a child for a PORT placement

A Medical Play activity that I created is called "Melting Elsa's Frozen Hands!" The child life specialist freezes a hospital glove filled with water, glitter, beaded necklaces/bracelets and I.V./PORT/PICC tubing. The patient must melt Elsa's hands to save Arrendale by using special magic medicine (warm water and food coloring). The patient uses different medical syringes to squirt the water onto the hand. You can add salt to help speed up the process. Other medical equipment relevant to the patient's care plan can be utilized as needed to help familiarize the patient with the medical equipment in a fun and nonthreatening way.

Next, I have attached Grief Handbooks. They are for families & professionals to utilize when helping an infant/toddler, school age child or adolescent navigate grief and loss. They touch on a child's understanding of death, the major developmental milestones to keep in mind, their biggest needs, interventions to utilize when working with each age group as well as local resources and support groups for families experiencing grief and loss.

Below is the "I like, I wish, I wonder, I worry box" : An emotional expression activity for school age children and teens that can be modified for most situations. It is an excellent intervention for building rapport, clearing up misconceptions and letting the child express their concerns and questions. To do this intervention you can decorate an empty mask or glove box together and have the child write down answers to the questions, "What do I like? What do I wish? What do I wonder about? and What do I worry about?"

Below is the "What Fills my Cup?" emotional expression intervention that I completed during my internship with a teen who was newly diagnosed with cancer. We discussed different things that help to "fill her cup" A.K.A. things that she likes to do that make her happy and feel like herself. We then discussed "what pokes holes in her cup" A.K.A. things that are hard or things that annoy her. Then we talked about "what mends the holes in her cup" A.K.A. coping strategies that help her when things are hard.

Here is my D.I.Y. Distraction Kit for children of all ages! Featuring a Rattle, Kaleidoscope, Ring Toss, Dancing Strings, & Fidget Spinner.

Below are photos of me volunteering at Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times! This is a camp for children whose lives have been impacted by cancer. My job as an Activities Camp Counselor was to create developmentally appropriate activities that met the needs of children with differing physical and mental abilities whose lives have been impacted by cancer.

• One of the activities we dId at camp was an obstacle course where the children pushed each other on flat low scooters. One of the children had a prosthetic leg and could not sit on the scooter. In order to make the activity more inclusive we modified it on the spot and had him and some of the other children sit on a rolling chair and be pushed through the course. The addition of the rolling chair was loved by all the children.

• Another activity we did was a disco dance night. This activity was perfect for our campers because it was inclusive for our children with visual impairments. Our children with other mobility issues were also able to participate because we created dance moves that they could do from the sitting position. We also had a low stimulation area of the disco for children with sensory sensitivities when they felt over stimulated.

Below is my paper detailing different interventions to help children waiting in the hospital. The interventions include a D.I.Y. stress ball activity, polaroid picture dress up activity, & a magic magnet wand activity

I have written a proposal for a research study to look at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the socio-emotional development of infants and toddlers and how it is displayed in the hospital. (Sample and Procedure made up for purpose of an assignment)

Below is my undergraduate senior thesis where I focus on the ways caretakers and professionals can help minimize long term consequences for hospitalized children by promoting active coping.