CTC Child Development & Psychological Impact 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which developmental theorist described the concept of 'scaffolding' and its importance in supporting children through challenges, including trauma recovery?
- Sigmund Freud
- Jean Piaget
- Lev Vygotsky (Correct answer)
- John Bowlby
Correct answer: Lev Vygotsky
Vygotsky's concept of scaffolding describes how knowledgeable adults can support children in achieving what they cannot do independently, crucial in trauma-informed care.
Question 2: A traumatized 10-year-old begins sucking their thumb and having nighttime accidents that stopped at age 4. This behavior pattern is clinically termed:
- Developmental arrest
- Regression (Correct answer)
- Dissociation
- Reactive attachment
Correct answer: Regression
Regression is the return to earlier developmental behaviors under stress, and is a common trauma response in children.
Question 3: Which neurotransmitter system is most implicated in the reward pathway disruptions seen in children who experienced early neglect?
- Serotonin only
- GABA
- Dopamine (Correct answer)
- Acetylcholine
Correct answer: Dopamine
Early neglect disrupts dopamine system development, affecting motivation, reward processing, and increasing vulnerability to later substance use.
Question 4: In Piaget's theory, a 5-year-old trauma survivor who insists the abuse was their fault is demonstrating which cognitive characteristic?
- Concrete operations
- Formal operations
- Egocentrism (Correct answer)
- Object permanence
Correct answer: Egocentrism
Preoperational egocentrism causes young children to interpret events as centered on themselves, making self-blame a developmentally expected but harmful trauma response.
Question 5: Which of the following BEST describes epigenetic changes related to childhood trauma?
- Permanent DNA sequence mutations caused by stress
- Heritable changes in gene expression without altering DNA sequence (Correct answer)
- Trauma-induced chromosomal deletions
- Genetic predisposition to trauma vulnerability
Correct answer: Heritable changes in gene expression without altering DNA sequence
Epigenetic changes alter gene expression patterns (e.g., via methylation) without changing DNA sequence, and some trauma-related changes can be transmitted across generations.
Question 6: A consultant notices a 6-year-old trauma survivor has difficulty with peer relationships and frequently misreads neutral facial expressions as threatening. This reflects impairment in:
- Gross motor development
- Social-emotional learning and threat appraisal (Correct answer)
- Phonological processing
- Working memory only
Correct answer: Social-emotional learning and threat appraisal
Trauma biases threat-detection systems, causing hypervigilant misinterpretation of neutral social cues, which significantly impairs peer relationships.
Question 7: Which period of brain development is considered most vulnerable to the effects of trauma due to rapid synaptic pruning and myelination?
- Late childhood (ages 10-12)
- Early adolescence (ages 12-15)
- Birth through age 3 (Correct answer)
- Ages 6-8
Correct answer: Birth through age 3
The first three years of life show the most rapid and extensive brain development, making this period most sensitive to environmental adversity including trauma.
CTC Child Development & Psychological Impact 3
Which developmental theorist described the concept of 'scaffolding' and its importance in supporting children through challenges, including trauma recovery?