Special Education at Age 3

My boy had long history of "trouble" at school ever since he was plugged into the school system.  As a single mom who has a full time job, sending him to day care followed by preschool was the most sensible option for me.  He entered preschool when he literally just turned 2.  The first year of preschool was a freebie for us; meaning, the teacher although would comment from time to time about him not following instructions, she certainly did not make a big deal out of it.  I suppose for children at age 2, the teachers were still understanding of basic child development.  As soon as he turned 3, everything changed.  I began to get daily "feedbacks" from school about his behavior at school. And let me tell you, thinking back, I could not remember of a single good day at school.  Most of the behavior reports involved him not following instructions, and the behavior associated with not following instructions were wide, including not stopping an action when being asked to stop, or doing exactly the opposite of what the teacher asked for.  I would also get reports of him hitting others and spitting on others.  Every school day became stressful for me, because deep inside, I was always afraid of getting another negative report. 

Because of the frequency of the reports, the school teachers recommended that he get evaluated for special education.  Frankly, I did not know what special education was.  I knew that my boys was very intelligent and very expressive.  He is physically strong, and has a special talent in language.  I know this because we are bilingual, and he has not demonstrated a lag in either his prim*ary language or English.  As soon as he entered day care and preschool setting, his conversational English is comparable to other children of his age.  But I knew that he has a strong personality, and is quite opinionated even at young age.  So, I looked into what kind of special education would this child need when he has not demonstrated any developmental delay, and in fact is quite superior in language development and comprehension of events that happen around him. 

The official reasons for referral were inattentiveness which I assume relates to not following instructions and lack of impulse control that resulted in aggressive interaction with his peers.  Once again, he was 3 when I was suggested for this evaluation.   The official report stated the areas of needs are: classroom participation (ability to follow instructions), transitioning (able to transition smoothly from preferred-task to non-preferred task), peer interaction (play appropriately), and self-regulation (emotion).  We officially went into special education when he was 3.5 years old.