儿童生活专家重点工作区为毕业生做好准备，以满足社会情感需求，并在各种医疗保健环境中支持儿童及其家庭的最佳成长和发展。儿童生活专家使用治疗性游戏，心理准备和应对技巧的干预措施来帮助减轻与疾病，残疾，住院和医疗程序有关的焦虑和压力。通过以家庭为中心的护理方法，他们为父母和其他家庭成员提供了放心和情感上的支持，帮助他们了解心理需求，并提供工具来帮助他们预防或最大程度地减少心理创伤。这些课程的重点是理解正常和异常的儿童和家庭发展，与儿童和家庭一起工作的有效方法，以及将理论和研究融入实际的临床实践经验中。除了在MU
The Child Life Specialist emphasis prepares students to support child development and family coping within the context of pediatric illness, injury, medical treatment, and grief in a variety of health care and community settings. Child life specialists use therapeutic play, psychological preparation, and coping skills interventions to help reduce children's anxiety and stress related to illness, disability, hospitalization, and other challenging life experiences. Through a family-centered care approach, they provide parents and other family members reassurance and emotional support, help them understand psychosocial needs, and provide tools to help prevent or minimize psychological trauma. Courses focus on understanding typical and exceptional child and family development, effective methods of supporting children and families, as well as integration of theory and research into hands-on clinical practice experiences. In addition to a 100-hour practicum experience (selection is on a competitive, space-available basis) at MU's Children's Hospital, the student's last semester is spent off-campus completing a 600-hour, unpaid clinical internship in a pediatric hospital setting. Placement at clinical internship sites is not guaranteed by the University of Missouri. Students who successfully complete the degree program with the clinical internship option are eligible to take the Child Life Professional Certification Exam presented by the Child Life Certification Commission (CLCC) after graduation.