Yangyang's speech evaluation

This morning I took Yangyang to the nearby preschool for a speech evaluation by the school district. We met Mary in the hallway, then followed her to a classroom. Yangyang was withdrawn as usual. He would not talk when I was there.

The first part was receptive language skills. The test was like the two tests he did earlier with the psychologist. He had to point to one of four pictures on a page when asked to "touch the ". He was reluctant at first, and made simple mistakes. I explained to the therapist that he knew all those words. She went back to the ones that he got wrong, and he was able to point to the correct pictures. Then he was more cooperative. After a while, he probably got tired, and the questions got more and more difficult. Sometimes I was surprised that he knew the words, like, "leaking", "melting", etc. When I glanced over Mary's test sheet, I could tell that he was at at least 6-7 year old level.

The second part was expressive language skills. Yangyang would have to look at a picture and name it. He refused to speak for a while until I decided to leave the room. He became anxious and started to call, "mama". After I left, he began to talk, slowly at first, and later he talked a lot. When Mary called me in, she told me that Yangyang was soft spoken (he wasn't soft spoken at home). His expressive language was at 7-8 year old level. Even she was surprised that he knew so many words, such as "fireplace", and "cactus". Well, I didn't realize those were hard words. Yangyang has a great visual memory, and a natural curiosity, so he has learned a lot of words.

She asked me to bring him back for a third part because we didn't have time to finish. I told her before the evaluation that Yangyang had no speech problem. My only concern was that he would not use his language skills socially. I also told her that last week a psychologist had diagnosed him with autism although nobody knew the cause.

Tomorrow we have another evaluation. Last week Yangyang had no school except for Thursday, and this next two weeks we have so many evaluations, that I worry that Yangyang's schedule is all messed up. But soon he would be 3, and he would have to change his school schedules anyway.

I can't believe he is going to be three! They say that the first three years is the most important developmentally. I feel that I have failed to provide an optimal environment for him to grow. I have done many things wrong, and there have been a lot of moments that I did not treasure dearly. I'm too anxious at times, but impatient at other times. I thought I would have more time, but I have lost his first three years forever.... Well, I have a few more days. What can I do now???

I must try to do my best.