We will discuss tools that get kids to listen today that are also our guest’s passion - Building rapport, providing age appropriate preparation and teaching coping skills to children, siblings and parents. Stephanie Applehanz is a Child Life Specialist with extensive experience creating and implementing plans of care for children and their families to use during their hospital stay and upon returning home. She enjoys collaborating with members of multiple interdisciplinary teams to advocate and provide the best care for patients and families. She is skilled at creating documents, presentations and trainings to continue to educate others of children’s needs. She is also proficient in creating and implementing IEPs, as well as coordinating with school and camp counselors.

In this episode, she details a list of toys to use with kids that are not only used for fun but also tools to facilitate rapport and conversations. Stephanie also explains why getting on eye level is important for kids and what other techniques to use when building rapport as an external family member is difficult during hospital care. There are many child life tricks out there that can be directly applied to home situations - and Stephanie named a few.

Stephanie’s Personal Links:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-r-appelhanz-ba-ccls-594a0832/

Email - [email protected]

Stephanie’s Recommended Resources:

-Mr. Men and Little Miss book series://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/DR9/mr-men-and-little-miss

-www.childlife.org to learn about child life and how we help children to cope

-https://www.kidsinpain.ca/ to learn more about how to improve children's pain management by mobilizing evidence-based solutions through coordination and collaboration

-http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/ is focused on promoting the social emotional development and school readiness of young children birth to age 5

-http://www.ymca.org

-www.dianealber.com creative art and feeling/coping books

-https://www.loveandlogic.com/ offering choices

-[email protected]

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xkk5CpfwUI&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3qj0sunCyGVhhEFQpd06CmQahme0OR8cGtU5XOkG-UkmxjMFmzOtnC17k information for parents on how to talk to children about COVID