Ds2 is 4.6 and starts reception in September (year deferred).
Until a few weeks ago our wonderful nursery teacher at state school was keeping a close eye and looking out for him but now she's off long-term sick - god we miss her.
He's got the typcal borderline-ASD profile - no behaviour problems. excellent concentration, memory, pre-academic skills - all that stuff. Formal turn-taking is also great. It's the social and communication side that worries us.
weaknesses are:
- ability to answer questions/converse (expressive language is coming on rapidly).
- confuses who/what/why questions and doesn't understand "how".
- finds following narratives hard - is just beginning to follow very basic Thomas the tank engine narratives (so an 8-page book about how Percy was clean, then he got dirty, that made him sad, then he had a wash-down, that made him happy again - that's his level).
Socially, they got him out of the withdrawn stage at nursery by June 2009. Now he has a regular group of friends and can move between different social groups.
But he is clearly socially immature.
He can make remarks to the other children but I think these are often advisory/instructions (eg "you have to put it over there").
I know that we have already achieved the most crucial breakthrough - getting him to engage with teachers and peers and to get out of the withdrawn phase without any behavioural problems emerging. But we want him to reach his full potential. We don't want him to retreat into the academic side. We don't want him to use his memory skills to mask a lack of understanding.
Do you think I should ask for a meeting with head and the temporary nursery manager?