How can child life specialists use The Dot Method with their patients
Written by Kelsey Mora, CCLS, LCPC
Author of The Dot Method©
Certified Child Life Specialists are the ultimate resource users. Whether working in a hospital setting, a clinic, or a private practice - it’s common practice to bring resources into the patient and family’s space to enhance your work with them.
Imagine you just got a call or referral to work with a young child who needs more support and guidance understanding their own cancer diagnosis or the cancer diagnosis of their loved one (sibling, parent, grandparent, friend, or another relative). OR a parent is requesting resources to take home to discuss cancer with their young family members.
You gather up your materials including a copy of The Dot Method from your resource closet or library.
Introduce yourself: Of course the first step of any child life specialist or clinician is to introduce yourself and your profession to the child and family. “My name is ______ and my job is to help kids and families feel more comfortable in the hospital.” or “My name is ______ and my job is to help kids and families better understand the medical diagnoses and experience.”
Assess their needs: You mention the reason for your visit per the referral and engage supportively to make your own assessment of the child and family’s needs. After getting to know each other to establish rapport and build trust, you might ask questions to get to know how much they know and understand about the diagnosis or hospitalization, what misconceptions still exist, and what topics seem to be resulting in the most difficulty, confusion, or discomfort.
Introduce the topic of cancer OR introduce the resources: If the topic of cancer hasn’t already been introduced, see post on “How to introduce the topic of cancer to young children”. If the topic of cancer has already been introduced, introduce The Dot Method. “I have a workbook that we can use to learn more about cancer together. It’s yours to keep! Let’s grab some markers or crayons because you’ll be doing some drawing and writing.”
Engage in The Dot Method: Working with a child on The Dot Method will not only be a valuable tool for them and their family, but interacting with the child will give you as the professional and expert a lot of insight into how they’re making sense of the cancer. It'‘ll prompt them in a way that clarifies misconceptions about treatment, identifies which side effects are the most challenging, and processes emotions as well as coping strategies and support systems. Or depending on the situation, provide the resource to the caregiver to take home. The Dot Method includes a how to guide and can be effectively guided and facilitated by a trusted adult at home as well.
The Dot Method is a resource to enhance and build upon your natural skills as a child life specialist. This includes reflective listening, child development, playfulness, creativity, and adaptability. After working with a child using The Dot Method, the child will have a cover to cover keepsake that they can revisit and reuse as the cancer experience continues. They can use it to teach their siblings, peers, friends, and more! And you can use the language as subsequent clinic visits, interactions, and appointments to increase their overall coping and understanding.
