CDC Child Development & Learning 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which type of attachment is characterized by a child who is distressed when a caregiver leaves but resists comfort upon return?
- Secure attachment
- Avoidant attachment
- Disorganized attachment
- Ambivalent/resistant attachment (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Ambivalent/resistant attachment
Ambivalent or resistant attachment involves heightened distress at separation combined with difficulty being soothed upon the caregiver's return.
Question 2: Fine motor skills in early childhood are BEST supported through which type of activity?
- Running obstacle courses
- Finger painting, cutting with scissors, and stringing beads (Correct answer)
- Group circle time and singing
- Large ball play and jumping
Correct answer: Finger painting, cutting with scissors, and stringing beads
Activities requiring precise hand and finger movements — like painting and cutting — directly develop fine motor skills.
Question 3: What does 'scaffolding' mean in an early childhood education context?
- Building physical structures for outdoor play
- Temporary support provided to help a child complete a task they cannot yet do alone (Correct answer)
- Assessing children using standardized checklists
- Separating children by developmental level into different rooms
Correct answer: Temporary support provided to help a child complete a task they cannot yet do alone
Scaffolding is the instructional support that adults gradually withdraw as a child gains competence, rooted in Vygotsky's ZPD concept.
Question 4: Language development in children typically follows which sequence?
- Words → babbling → two-word phrases → sentences
- Babbling → single words → two-word phrases → sentences (Correct answer)
- Sentences → phrases → single words → babbling
- Single words → sentences → babbling → two-word phrases
Correct answer: Babbling → single words → two-word phrases → sentences
Language progresses from babbling (~6 months) to first words (~12 months) to two-word combinations (~18–24 months) to full sentences.
Question 5: A caregiver reads aloud to infants daily even before they understand words. What is the PRIMARY developmental benefit?
- Teaching infants to hold books correctly
- Building vocabulary, language exposure, and emotional bonding (Correct answer)
- Improving the infant's fine motor grip
- Preparing infants for formal reading instruction
Correct answer: Building vocabulary, language exposure, and emotional bonding
Early read-alouds expose children to rich vocabulary, sentence patterns, and promote secure attachment through shared attention.
Question 6: Which is an example of symbolic play in a toddler?
- Stacking blocks in a tower
- Using a banana as a pretend telephone (Correct answer)
- Dropping toys repeatedly from a highchair
- Sorting shapes by color
Correct answer: Using a banana as a pretend telephone
Symbolic play involves using one object to represent another, indicating growing abstract and imaginative thinking.
Question 7: Brain development research shows that the most critical period for forming neural connections in a child's brain is:
- Adolescence (12–18 years)
- Middle childhood (6–12 years)
- Birth to age 5 (Correct answer)
- Prenatal period only
Correct answer: Birth to age 5
The first five years of life are the most sensitive period for brain development, with billions of neural connections forming at a rapid rate.
CDC Child Development & Learning 3
Which type of attachment is characterized by a child who is distressed when a caregiver leaves but resists comfort upon return?