Additional Sibling Resources

During your child’s inpatient stay, they will meet with a recreation therapist and a child life specialist. Both will help your other children feel involved in the care of your hospitalized child. Your child’s child life specialist can set up one-on-one sessions—either virtually or in person—to provide educational and emotional support tailored to the needs of your family. This support can help children and teens understand why their sibling is in the hospital and learn more about their sibling’s diagnosis and explore the various pieces of medical equipment their sibling might be using. Recreation therapists collaborate with child life specialists to help siblings learn fun and adaptive play techniques to engage their hospitalized sibling in activities. If you are interested in coordinating support for a sibling, please contact your child’s child life specialist.

We love it when siblings come to visit their hospitalized sibling! Contact your case manager for the most updated visitation policies.

Kids who stay at Kennedy Krieger often participate in rehabilitation services to help their bodies get stronger. Kids come to Kennedy Krieger for many different reasons and may receive different types of therapies. The therapies here help patients get stronger. During down time, kids have opportunities to have fun and play games. Doctors and nurses care for kids here to help their bodies heal. Children and teens at Kennedy Krieger participate in therapies to help their bodies get stronger. In between therapies, kids here have many opportunities to have fun and play games. Kids at Kennedy Krieger are also cared for by nurses and doctors who make sure their bodies are healing, inside and out.

The Soaring Siblings subscription box service is available to families of patients of Kennedy Krieger’s Inpatient Rehabilitation, Feeding and Epilepsy Monitoring Unit. Patients with siblings ages 6 to 12 are eligible for enrollment during their inpatient stay.

Once enrolled, families will receive a subscription box every three months. Each box will include:

• Family game: Cultivates the sibling bond—perfect for family game night!
• Art activity: Promotes individuality and self-expression.
• Therapeutic activity: Provides therapeutic intervention related to coping and education about the hospital and the body.
• Flight cards: Collectable trading cards that promote healthcare education by highlighting different staff members who work in the hospital and their jobs, or information about different body parts, etc.
• Toys: A variety of toys, knick-knacks and more to promote fun!

After 12 months of enrollment, families will be automatically unenrolled, and each sibling will “graduate” as a Soaring Sibling! Reach out to your child’s child life specialist or social worker for more information about enrollment.

• Facilitate a video call between your hospitalized child and their sibling—your child life specialist can help with this.
• Play your family’s favorite board or card game together over the phone.
• Help your children write letters to each other, including pictures if appropriate.

Kennedy Krieger is excited to offer Sibshops, a nationally recognized program for siblings (ages 8 to 12) of complex and/or chronically ill children, for the siblings of patients receiving outpatient medical care at the Institute. Sibshops focus on these siblings’ well-being, as siblings experience stressors and challenging emotions just like parents and caregivers do. Siblings can feel sad, ignored, worried, angry, lonely or even guilty—all perfectly normal feelings for a child to navigate. During group sessions, siblings play games and participate in age-appropriate activities that promote self-confidence, understanding and empathy. Through these activities, siblings meet other children in similar situations and provide support for each other. Sibshops are offered quarterly by Kennedy Krieger on Saturdays at Ronald McDonald House Charities^® Maryland, just a few blocks from Kennedy Krieger’s downtown Baltimore campus.

Learn More

Short on time? Here are a dozen 15-minute activities you can do with your kids between medical appointments to have fun and help siblings bond:

• Make music with household items
• Play “I Spy”
• Go for a walk in nature
• Make a fort
• Do a scavenger hunt
• Draw a picture of a favorite memory together
• Read a book
• Draw goofy self-portraits of each other
• Make an obstacle course
• Create a playlist of your favorite music together
• Take a 15-minute walk and talk about three “highs” or “lows” of the day
• Make a snack or meal together