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
Dr Google
Today we have a difficult topic: public criticism of colleagues. But I have to admit that there is one colleague who is so annoying that I have to say something about it today.
Dogan paediatrics guide
Our paediatrician colleague Özgür Dogan from Stuttgart has created something really great: He has basically written a book that covers all aspects of our profession - and published the whole thing not as a book, but as an app.
RSV
Today we're talking about a topic that is currently on everyone's lips - and not just a challenge in terms of pronunciation: We're talking about the "respiratory syncytial virus", or RS virus for short, which is keeping paediatric practices and clinics particularly busy this year.