#1 true or false: body growth and brain development in infancy and toddlerhood (pp. 162–174) directions: read each of the following statements and indicate whether each is true (t) or false (f). 1. in the second year, most toddlers steadily gain weight, a trend that continues into middle childhood. 2. when skeletal ages are examined, caucasian children tend to be slightly ahead of african-american children at all ages. 3. in all, about 40 percent of synapses are pruned during childhood and adolescence to reach the adult level. 4. pet and fmri are especially well-suited for measuring brain functioning in infants and young children. 5. the cerebral cortex is the last brain structure to stop growing. 6. the cerebral cortex has two hemispheres that are very similar in their functions. 7. the brain is more plastic during the first few years than at any later time of life. 8. exposing babies to under stimulating institutional care for 6 months to 2 years permanently undermines all aspects of psychological development. 9. providing infants and toddlers with a free curriculum of reading, math, science, art, music, and gym yield "super babies." 10. the changing arousal patterns during the first few years of life are affected by brain development and the social environment.

Since there are so many true and false questions, the answers and their short explanation, are as follows:

1. False. Children tend to gain weight from birth till they reach the 2-year line and from then on, into middle childhood, they tend to trim down.

2. False. The reverse is true. When skeletal age is used to measure body development, epsecially bone growth, it is African American children that have a slight advantage over their Caucasian counterparts.

3. True. Between childhood and adolescence, the body prunes about 40% of the synapses that have been formed by the brain, as they will not be necessary later in development. This helps to prepare the brain for what it will become later in life.

4. False. Young children, and especially infants, need to move, and are anxious in small spaces. both of these diagnostic procedures require the child to be static, and that is not possible. This is why EEG is a more common procedure to be used; it allows children to be sitting with their parents and to move.

5. True. The cerebral cortex continues growing from childhood into adolescence, and it develops more rapidly than any other region of the brain as it is the one that is most stimulated during those years.

6. False. The cerebral cortex has two hemispheres but each one specializes on certain activities. This does not mean that both do not colaborate in all tasks, but each has specialized tasks to perform.

7. True. Plasticity is a characteristic of the young brain. However, even during childhood, if injury occurs, this does not mean there will not be consequences. It just means that the brain is able to cope with the deficiency and establish mechanisms of compensation that the adult brain cannot do.

8. True. The period between 6 months and 2 years is especially active in development of social, physical and emotional skills. So understimulation and the lack of proper resources and support systems does cause problems in development.

9. False. This is basically a myth. Overstimulation of the child´s brain will not ensure they are more proficient or better, and much less that they become superbabies.

10. True. The more social contact a baby has, paired with genetics of course, the more stimulated the brain becomes and the more development is benefited. And the more developed a baby´s brain is, the further interaction he/she will have with his/her environment, to increase development.

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