What classic sign would the nurse, auscultating breath sounds of a child hospitalized for an asthma attack, expect to find?

A. Expiratory Wheezing: Expiratory wheezing is a classic sign of an asthma attack. It occurs due to narrowing and inflammation of the airways, which causes turbulent airflow during exhalation. Wheezing typically gets louder during expiration as the airways are more constricted during this phase of breathing. B. Fine Crackles: Fine crackles are often heard in conditions like pneumonia or heart failure, where fluid is present in the lungs. They are not a hallmark of asthma. C. Coarse Rhonchi: Coarse rhonchi are low-pitched sounds often associated with mucous secretions in the larger airways, but they are not the classic finding in asthma, where wheezing predominates. D. Decreased Breath Sounds at the Lung Bases: Decreased breath sounds can indicate severe respiratory distress or a condition like pleural effusion or atelectasis. However, in asthma, breath sounds are usually more prominent during wheezing and are not typically decreased in the absence of complications.