The U9 screening - is it going well?
Our series on the U examinations continues with the U9 - which is almost like a repeat of the U8.
At the U9, the children are five years old and, as always, weighing and measuring are part of the examination. We also measure the blood pressure, check the urine and check the immunisation record. Of course, as always, there is also time to discuss any questions that parents may have had since the last check-up.
All in all, however, the U9 is not very different from the U8; the same aspects are examined, namely motor skills, fine motor skills and speech. And the developmental differences that we would like to see in comparison to the U8 are relatively small in some areas.
Two examples: A child should already be able to hop on one leg at U9, at least three to five hops per leg should work. There should also have been a small "hiccup" in speech. For example, if the child is still saying "Dinderdarden" and "Sule", you could consider speech therapy.
Another common topic for parents at U9 is the question of school enrolment: When will the child be ready? There is a separate tip with a video about this.
Further interesting tips
J1 screening
This is almost the end of our series on medical check-ups. We are looking at J1, the penultimate examination.
Blood in the stool
We are starting the new year with a not so appetising topic: blood in the stool. It happens once a week in our day-to-day practice that we receive a very excited phone call or a somewhat panicked email saying: "Oh God, my child has blood in their stool." In most cases, the excitement is unnecessary.
Dummy
When is my child too old for a dummy? All parents ask themselves this question sooner or later. There are many answers. But there is also a very simple way.