Speech Delay and What Else...?

So the verdict is in. Based on the evaluation a few weeks ago, the Speech Pathologist has reported that Doodlebug has a "moderate delay" in expressive communication. This was difficult to hear, but also somewhat of a relief to me since knowing will help us better support him. 

The Good News 

Doodlebug will likely be able to communicate verbally at a level appropriate for his age with therapy sessions and some strategies we can use to communicate with him at home. The therapist is confident that his ability to achieve that goal is excellent with a few months of therapy. We've had two sessions so far and I can already see a difference. Doodlebug has started saying some two word phrases like "cat eat" "more orange" and "more car car". He has also started noticing verbs (other than eat and read") like "cook" and "play". 

Doodlebug and his "unusual interest in letters"

The I-don't-know-what-to-do-with-this-yet News

Of course, there was more to the report. The evaluator mentions that there were some common autism characteristics that she observed - only answering to his name some of the time, preference to play alone and his high interest in letters, numbers and colors at his age. I had noticed those traits in Doodlebug a while ago, but we had always dismissed any concerns by thinking those were normal traits for a two-year-old boy. But maybe not?

I had convinced myself that some traits I noticed were normal for a two-year-old (or at least normal for Doodlebug), like his fussiness at his 2nd birthday party or his very long warming up period for strangers. Large crowds and unexpected changes have always overwhelmed our sensitive little guy. I never wanted to make a big deal about that though. My feeling is that I'm not going to force my kids to socialize or to act like other kids. It's great that some kids like to play with other children, hold hands with them and sing and dance with them. My child does not. It's nice if your child will go with the flow around a new adult, babysitter, etc. Mine will not. He struggles with new people, he wants familiarity. If you're disingenuous or in a bad mood, my child senses it and stays far away from you. If he were an adult, we would considered him to be a good judge of character! 

I'm feeling so many mixed emotions going into these evaluations/ therapies - hopeful, scared, anxious, but mostly overwhelmed right now. I'm due with our second baby in 10 weeks and I'm worried about giving Doodlebug all the extra attention he needs right now while trying to prepare for Ladybug's arrival. I guess I better start improving my juggling routine.