CHILD GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS
Cephalocaudal ( Latin for head-to-tail) Operation - Answer-Growth of the head and
upper body precede (before the) growth in the lower body
Proximodistal (near-to-far) Principle - Answer-The body grows form the center outward
Colostrum - Answer-A thin, yellowish fluid secreted by the breast for several days
before milk is produced
Synapse - Answer-Microscopic gap
Neurotransmitters - Answer-Impulses are transmitted across the synapse (and from cell
to cell) by these chemicals
Myelination - Answer-A process where axons develop an isolating, fatty coating that
improves the efficiency of nerve impulse transmission
Synaptogenesis - Answer-The formation of synapses, starts prenatally but increases in
the first three years of life
Plasticity - Answer-When one part of the nervous system becomes damaged or unable
to function, other parts of the system will be able to take over, it referred as the brain
___________
Hemispheretomy - Answer-The radical removal of half of a child's brain in the treatment
of extreme cases of brain seizures
"Use it or lose it" Principle - Answer-Results in the leveling off of the number of
synapses from the end of the second year through approximately the tenth year, about
the time children graduate from the elementary school
Pruning - Answer-Synapses and cells that are not stimulated are eliminated through a
massive and continuing destructive process known as
Sensation - Answer-Refers to the ability to passively receive and register information
concerning internal and external events and to transmit that information to the central
nervous system
Perception - Answer-Refers to the infants active searching information and the
processing of that sensory information by the brain
STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS
Cephalocaudal ( Latin for head-to-tail) Operation - Answer-Growth of the head and
upper body precede (before the) growth in the lower body
Proximodistal (near-to-far) Principle - Answer-The body grows form the center outward
Colostrum - Answer-A thin, yellowish fluid secreted by the breast for several days
before milk is produced
Synapse - Answer-Microscopic gap
Neurotransmitters - Answer-Impulses are transmitted across the synapse (and from cell
to cell) by these chemicals
Myelination - Answer-A process where axons develop an isolating, fatty coating that
improves the efficiency of nerve impulse transmission
Synaptogenesis - Answer-The formation of synapses, starts prenatally but increases in
the first three years of life
Plasticity - Answer-When one part of the nervous system becomes damaged or unable
to function, other parts of the system will be able to take over, it referred as the brain
___________
Hemispheretomy - Answer-The radical removal of half of a child's brain in the treatment
of extreme cases of brain seizures
"Use it or lose it" Principle - Answer-Results in the leveling off of the number of
synapses from the end of the second year through approximately the tenth year, about
the time children graduate from the elementary school
Pruning - Answer-Synapses and cells that are not stimulated are eliminated through a
massive and continuing destructive process known as
Sensation - Answer-Refers to the ability to passively receive and register information
concerning internal and external events and to transmit that information to the central
nervous system
Perception - Answer-Refers to the infants active searching information and the
processing of that sensory information by the brain
