Discouraged after daycare feedback

Hi all, I’m feeling a bit rattled after a parent-teacher chat at daycare and hoping someone can relate.

Up until now, I genuinely thought my 23-month-old’s speech was advanced for his age. He has a big vocabulary, uses three to five word phrases, and answers questions at home all the time. But at daycare, they told me he “just repeats questions back to them and doesn’t really answer” / “repeats what we say a lot of the time”. It totally threw me off.

I looked up Gestalt language processing and he doesn’t fit this at all. He started talking with single words, then combining (ex go downstairs, light on, shut door) into 2 word combos, then 3+ and so on. He doesn’t fit the profile of a GLP. He definitely does do some echolalia at home but not anything more than what others his age are doing and usually when a word or phrase is new/funny he’ll repeat it once as a way to like take it in.

At home, he’s super verbal and communicative. But he’s only been in this new room for a month (with older kids and new caregivers), and my gut says he’s just shy or not fully comfortable yet. Like, he still barely even poops at daycare - of course he’s not going to be 100% himself there yet.

Still, I left the conversation feeling really insecure and sad, like maybe I’ve been overestimating where he’s at or missing something important. I’m trying to remind myself that kids act differently in different settings, especially when they’re still settling in. But I’d love to hear if anyone else has experienced this, or has advice on how to help bridge the gap between home and daycare communication.