DS (2.5) has been going to his new daycare since December and things were going great until a few weeks ago when he was out of daycare for over a week due to illness. Since then, he is making everyone's life miserable there. He doesn't go down to naps, hits the other kids completely unprovoked, doesn't follow directions for circle time etc. Apparently, he threw a chair this week and broke it. It's not that he was perfect before but he mostly had good days.

She said that she puts him directly in time out and talks to him about gentle hands, etc. Ulimately, he is taking away from the positive environment and she said she constantly has to shadow him. Just today, a little girl told him I was here and he smacked her in the face. I was appalled. He very rarely hits us at home and does it when playing or upset, not randomly. So, he behaves very differently at daycare. I should add that he is extremely speech delayed and doesn't seem to know how to communicate with the other kids (who are more advanced speech-wise.)

Our DCP said its odd because she has seen him be really good and knows he can be so sweet. We are going to go to a parent/teacher conference next week and she is really willing to work with us and wants to solve the problem instead of kicking him out and making it someone else's problem. I appreciate that so much, but I am feeling lost. If things don't change, I know he will be out. I wish I could just stay home but we can't afford it. What can we do? Any suggestions, insights, anecdotes?

Eta: He is in speech therapy and making great strides there but getting worse at daycare.