Forgive me, I've posted before under different names about my 3.1yo's development. I tend to have bouts of fearing the future and feeling sorry for myself, followed by long periods of burying my head in the sand.
DS was observed at nursery today, at their instigation because they are worried about his social development and communication skills. She noted that he spent a lot of time running round skimming surfaces with his hands, was pretty much constantly verbalising but with lots of repetitive phrases from favourite TV shows, saying "hello [own name]" instead of "hello [other person's name]" etc.
During the observation he showed little awareness of the other children. His responses to questions are often made up of repeating what adults say, or using learned phrases which only sort of answer the question (e.g. "Are you hungry, X?" "Do you want some food"). At home I have to prompt him to say yes or no every time, he doesn't use them spontaneously although he understands
The observer also noticed that he is very repetitive - using the same phrase every time he went up to greet his key worker, for e.g. On the positive side she also noted that he is friendly with adults, relaxed and obviously happy in the setting.
This all chimes in with what I've seen at home, but I found it very disheartening for his early years professionals agree with me :(. I just don't feel I have the emotional reserves to cope. I feel so sad for my little boy, but also a whole load of other less charitable emotions, like disappointment and tiredness.