Therapeutic and Developmental Support Services
Child Life and Creative Arts Program
Child Life Program
The Child Life and Creative Arts program at Blythedale Children’s Hospital is dedicated to helping infants, children and their families cope through their medical journey. Our team of Certified Child Life Specialists are trained in the developmental impact of illness, injury, trauma and hospitalization. We offer interventions that help to ease a child’s adjustment and experience to a hospital setting and health status. Our CCLS use a variety of approaches such as procedural preparation and support, medical and therapeutic play, as well as emotional and developmental support to promote healthy coping behaviors.
If interested in a Spring Semester Internship please contact Jeannine Florio, MS, CCLS, Assistant Director of Child Life and Creative Arts at childlifeinternship@blythedale.org or (914) 592-7555, ext. 71498. *Please note, we follow the ACLP's internship application requirements and process.
Music Therapy
The Music Therapy Program at Blythedale Children’s Hospital is offered through our Child Life Program. Using a variety of approaches to engage children in musical experiences, the program encourages and supports relaxation, pain relief, and emotional expression, as well as improved coping skills. Our Music Therapy program works on a referral basis and runs in conjunction with our Therapeutic Recreation Program.
Therapeutic Recreation
The Therapeutic Recreation Department provides both treatment and leisure services to inpatients, and serves to aid patients in their rehabilitative recovery through goal-oriented recreational activities. These activities are based on each child's individual preferences and abilities, and aim to restore and improve functional skills. The department’s goal is to facilitate the development, maintenance and expression of an appropriate leisure lifestyle for every patient.
Individualized bedside Therapeutic Recreation services are offered to patients who are unable to attend general recreation programming. Group programs are offered seven days a week. For more information, please contact Debbie Sicari.
Developmental Support
Blythedale understands the importance of addressing the unique social and developmental needs of medically complex children while hospitalized. Each unit has a dedicated team which strives to create nurturing environments and daily play experiences. Ensuring that each child has access to vital developmental experiences supporting overall health and wellbeing.
Therapeutic and Developmental Support Services Staff
Therapeutic Recreation: Healing Through Play
"We get to use play as a form of medicine." Blythedale's certified therapeutic recreation specialists (aka "the finders of fun", "the laborers of leisure", "the realizers of recovery") create customized, goal-oriented recreational activities to put the "fun" back into functional skills for inpatients and residents of The Steven and Alexandra Cohen Pediatric Long Term Care Pavilion.
A Day in the Life of Mathew Miller
Thirteen-year-old Mathew was well-known as a baseball prodigy in the Little League community. A versatile player, the talented teen hit more than 70 home runs in one year alone. The road that led him to Blythedale is heart-breaking, but his tenacity and courage in the face of adversity has led to an extraordinary recovery.
Our Littlest Miracles
Learn more about Blythedale's unique Infant Program and how our developmental specialists are helping our littlest miracles catch up.
Making Music Matter: Therapy Program Promotes Hope, Self-Expression & Socialization
Grab a guitar, bang a bongo or simply sing along with our licensed music therapists as they promote and maintain mental, physical and emotional health for all Blythedale Children’s Hospital patients and residents in The Steven and Alexandra Cohen Long Term Care Pavilion.