Recertification Through Professional Development Hours
Keeping Track of PDHs
- PDHs must have been completed during the five-year cycle for which they are reported.
- You can start accruing PDHs on the day you pass the certification exam and continue to do so until June 30 of the year in which your certification will expire.
- If you have already recertified through PDHs once, you can begin accruing PDHs for your new cycle on July 1 of the year you recertified and continue to do so until June 30 of the year in which your new certification cycle will expire.
- Candidates will need to refer to the Exam Content Outline to establish a connection to each PDH session attended.
- For each session, candidates will select one of the 3 domains from the Exam Content Outline and one subdomain to which the material in the session is most closely related. For example, “Domain I Assessment, Subdomain 4: Recognize psychosocial factors in order to identify strengths and challenges” would be represented as “I-4.”
- Conference programs must be broken down into individual breakout sessions with an entry for each.
- CCLSs must keep supporting documentation for each professional development activity in case the application is selected for random audit. Do not submit these materials unless requested by the Child Life Certifying Committee.
- One education contact hour will be credited for one PDH.
- PDHs will be calculated in half- hour increments only.
- Hours will be rounded down to the next half-hour increment. (For example, .75 will be credited as .5).
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Only online courses with an interactive component (with an instructor and/or other participants) are allowed. Applicants are required to keep detailed records of the time spent online for the course. Only educational contact hours count toward the number of PDHs; time spent doing assignments for online courses does not count.
Track Professional Development Hours Online
Certified Child Life Specialists may track PDHs and submit them online. To add, edit or delete PDHs from your online record, log in to your CLC User Profile and visit your Certification History.
- PDHs earned through participation in a CLC Annual Conference will automatically be entered in each registrant's PDH tracking form online. These are pre-approved sessions.
- We recommend that you have a printed copy of the Exam Content Outline handy as you track your PDHs.
- Applicants are required to enter a start and end time for all PDHs. To document online courses: If you are online at a particular time of day for the course, please use those times. If not please provide a daily estimate and enter any other information about the time spent completing the session in the “other information” field.
Submitting PDHs for Recertification
Recertification will be granted for a five-year period beginning January 1 of the following year, provided:
- The application is complete (including full payment) and received by the deadline
- Professional Development Hours meet the established criteria
- 50 (fifty) appropriate Professional Development Hours are submitted
Submit PDHs Online Using a Credit Card
If you are paying with a credit card, please log in to your CLC User Profile and visit your Certificant History, which will include a link with the option to apply to recertify through PDHs. This link will only appear in your record if you have tracked a minimum of 50 PDHs online and you are in the 5th year of your certification cycle. Follow the on-screen directions to submit your application and payment. Child Life Council accepts Visa and MasterCard. Certification fees are non-refundable.
Submit Paper Application and Pay by Check
If you are paying by check, please print a copy of the application form provided below, and mail it along with payment to:
Child Life Council - Certification
11821 Parklawn Drive, Suite 310
Rockville, MD 20852-2539
Candidates may use the PDH form provided below to record professional development activities. For each professional activity, supporting documentation should be kept for your records. DO NOT SEND THE SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS when submitting your PDH application. If you are selected for a random audit, this documentation will be required at that time.
Submitting Application to Recertify through PDHs after June 30 Deadline
The deadline to apply to recertify through professional development hours is June 30 of the final year of the five-year certification cycle. Late applications will be accepted through October 31, with a $50 U.S. late fee added after June 30.
- Because they will not be part of the pool of those potentially audited, individuals applying after June 30 are required to submit their supporting documentation along with their application.
- Applications submitted between July 1 and October 31 must be mailed to the CLC office with all supporting documentation. Online applications will not be accepted after June 30.
- Applicants who apply after the June 30 deadline and whose applications are not approved may not be permitted the opportunity to recertify by taking the November certification exam. In situations such as this, the CCLS’s certification will expire on January 1 of the following year. To obtain the credential again, the individual will be required to re-establish eligibility under the current requirements, take and pass the exam.
Recertification Form
Random Audit of PDH Submissions
It is the responsibility of the Child Life Council, through the Child Life Certifying Committee (CLCC), to uphold and enforce the high standards that have been set for child life professional development. A random audit is the mechanism used for this task. This annual audit is a random review of selected child life PDH recertification applications. In mid-July, a computer search will pull a number of applications. The percentage of certificants to be audited for the current year is set by the CLCC. Audit of PDHs does NOT mean that there is a prior doubt about the honesty or accuracy of a claim. It is essential to maintain a complete file of documentation of Professional Development Hours in the event you are randomly selected for the audit process.
What to Do if You Are Selected for a Random Audit
A notification letter will be sent using a method that requires a signature upon receipt to each person to be audited. The certificant will submit copies of verification documentation for all PDHs reported on the PDH form. All submissions become property of the Child Life Council and will not be returned to the applicant. Documentation must be postmarked within 21 days from the audit letter date. Non-respondents will forfeit certification.
The Child Life Certifying Committee will conduct the audit process. Child Life Council office staff will send audit applications to the Child Life Certifying Committee members. All materials will be evaluated according to the same standards and by means of identical procedures. For each person audited, the procedure produces one of the following outcomes:
- Professional Development Hours accepted as reported
- Professional Development Hours are denied due to lack of proper documentation
- Professional Development Hours are denied that do not meet established criteria
- Claimed credits are adjusted to reflect and correct errors in the calculation of the number of Professional Development Hours
Certificants will be offered the opportunity to remediate any errors or incomplete portions of the application discovered during the audit process. If an application is incomplete, a letter will be sent to the applicant from the Child Life Council office requesting the necessary information.
If the applicant does not respond within 21 days of the date on the incomplete application letter, the application for recertification will be denied and certification will expire at year's end.
Certificants will be notified of the results of the audit by letter from the Child Life Council office as directed by the Child Life Certifying Committee. Each audited certificant has the opportunity to request clarification or appeal audit results within 21 days of the date on the result notification letter. If there is no response or question regarding the results within the specified time limit, the results of the audit are considered final. The record of the certificant's PDHs will be forwarded to the Child Life Council staff and recorded in the applicant's file.
Any questions regarding the certification process can be addressed to certification@childlife.org.