Hi, I'm Maddie, I'm gonna teach you how to swallow pills.
Hi, I'm Amanda, I'm a child-life specialist at the Jimmy Fund Clinic.
I'm Larissa Hewitt and I'm a social worker at the Jimmy Fund Clinic.
Pill swallowing is definitely a skill that it doesn't come naturally to a lot of people,
especially kids. I feel like developmentally it takes them a little bit longer
to understand how to swallow a pill, because it's not a natural thing.
So part of us trying to teach kids to do it is to, you know, really make sure we
meet them where they're at developmentally. And I think to also kind of alleviate the pressure and
the anxiety that they may feel from it. A lot of our kids too have some previous experiences that
whether it's negative or positive, they may bring that into learning how to swallow a pill. And
as a child-life specialist, I really try to meet the child where they're at, and in a fun way, where
we can kind of joke around with it, or we get the family involved, or sometimes getting other
people involved like Larissa, or interns, just to make sure that the child is comfortable.
I think another really important part of learning how to swallow pills is making sure that it's
the only activity that you're doing. I think making sure you're doing it in a room where it's
kind of quiet. And the main focus really helps because there are no other distractions around.
Keeping it positive.and light is really important. I think we're working with kids,
right? So we want to make sure that it's kid friendly, and definitely something that the whole
family can get into if they want to. Oftentimes we'll say, like, let's bring your brother and
sister in. And it's actually a great way for the whole family to learn how to take medication.
And another thing that we really like, is these children to develop this skill. It's kind of
like riding a bike, you kind of get better as you learn and do it more. I think that sense of
mastery is really important, especially to a lot of our kids who are still developing.
So the game that we have here we call the pill swallowing game, we have a bunch of different
candies that start really small. So we start with sprinkles and Nerds and work all the way
up to the Mike and Ikes. And what we do is every time someone can do one successfully three times
in a row, they move on to the next medicine. We also have other fun things to kind of make it more
like a game. We have this fun timer. Or sometimes people just need to be timed in order to do it.
We also have a mirror that helps some of our kids kind of see where they're putting the candy.
Right, you're ready to get started. Okay, so we're gonna start with a sprinkle with Maddie.
Hand, please. I might give you more than one by accident. Right?
Good job.
She's a pro. She really is. And the way that Maddie does it, too. That's really great
as she puts it on our tongue first and then takes a big sip of water. Does that really help you?
Yeah, what medicine should we do next? She's such a pro. She's gonna skip on through.
Mini M&M ready? Can I see your hand? There you go. Good job!
So you did your sprinklers, did the sprinkles and we
skipped over Nerds so we already did those...we know we can do those, right?
Which one next? Regular M&Ms! All right.
You're a professional.
Got it! Okay!
That's okay. Do you want to swallow that one? You can chew it? Yep. Just do it for a little bit.
As parents, you may be wondering, what do I do if my child doesn't learn the pill swallowing
game or struggles with a particular candy? And one thing that we do at the Jimmy Fund is that process
of we're going to do three successful times move on to the next candy and if a child gets stuck,
we never stop on the stuck point. We always go back to the candy that they were successful with
and end for the day on a positive point where they have confidence. Yeah. Another big thing
to be aware of as parents is that kids are not always successful on the first go. Often in
clinic when we're teaching pill swallowing, this could be multiple weeks of moving slowly through
the progression of candies. So it's certainly not something that we expect kids to be able to
swallow on Mike and Ike on the first try. Most kids get stuck in a candy for a little while,
and then are able to kind of progressively move forward over a period of weeks.
Right. And that's totally okay. developmentally, like we said before, it's hard to swallow pills,
especially when your brains telling you that it's not a natural movement.
Depending on the age of your child pill swallowing and teaching pill swallowing may not be possible.
There are organizations that have materials available for parents to help you learn at
various developmental stages, how to support your child through medication taking. One particular
resource that we use a lot is from the National Cancer Institute.
It is a guide that walks parents through everything from
people parenting infants, through kids who are in the young adult stage and may be struggling
with medication adherence or medication taking. And this guide can be very helpful for parents
and just elucidating some of the concepts that could help your child be successful.
So I think it's really important to find what works best for your child and for you at home.
There are a bunch of different ways that you can try to take your medicine whether
it's with something like chocolate syrup, and crushing it up in there, or trying to take them
full like we just did with the pill swallowing kit. What Maddie does is she puts it into her
applesauce, and then she takes a big gulp of water and she also holds her mom's hand
and that's what works best for her. Every child is going to be different,
but hopefully you can find the way that works best for you and your family.
This is my favorite way to practice.
Great! I'm so impressed!