What is the U7?
The U7 examination is one of the 9 early detection examinations (U examinations). Each U-examination is performed at a certain age of the child. The U7 examination is the first early detection examination in infancy. It serves to detect possible diseases or developmental disorders at an early stage and to support the child in growing up healthy. A special focus of the U7 examination is the mental and social development of the child.
When is the U7 examination performed?
The U7 examination is performed between the 21st and 24th month of the child’s life. It is important to perform the examination at this age for two reasons. The first is that the timing of the U-examinations is chosen so that relevant diseases or developmental disorders can be detected in time and the treatment achieves the best possible effect.
The assessment of the developmental status is also best possible if the doctor sees the children at a constant fixed time. The other, somewhat more pragmatic reason is that if the time limit is not observed, there can sometimes be billing problems with the health insurance company. This could also be interesting for you: Child development
Which examinations are carried out?
As with the other U examinations, the U7 examination is used to check whether the child is developing normally and is healthy. First, the child is given a thorough physical examination. The pediatrician measures the child’s head circumference, height, weight, looks in the mouth, ears and eyes, palpates the abdomen and checks the mobility of arms and legs.
He will then look at motor skills, social and play behavior and language development. Parents’ observations in everyday life are particularly important for this. Does your child sometimes run, can he or she stand up from a squatting position with no hands, does he or she enjoy movement?
How is their coordination – is it perhaps already beginning to put one foot on each step of the stairs, like the adults? During the examination, the doctor will let your child play with a ball or run backwards, for example, or test the fine motor skills by having him build a block tower. Then the pediatrician will ask about the child’s social behavior.
He is interested, for example, in how your child plays with siblings or in kindergarten, how it deals with pets, whether it distinguishes between “my” and “yours” and whether it starts actively participating in everyday activities such as brushing teeth, washing hair, dressing and undressing. In terms of language development, we look at whether the child understands simple words and sentences and whether he or she already speaks in two-word sentences. Here, the pediatrician may talk to your child himself about what he experienced yesterday.
Alternatively, a picture book is looked at in which the child is supposed to recognize and name things. The child’s active vocabulary should be about 100 – 200 words. Another important point of the U7 examination is to advise the parents on topics that are important for the child in the near future. These include nutrition, accident prevention, promoting language development, vaccinations and caries prophylaxis. The recommended vaccinations can also be carried out during the U7 examination.
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