Baby D is almost 18 months old. He is sure talking a lot these days. The sound of him talking is such sweet relief to me!

My first son started talking early and was (and still is) a very chatty fellow. Unfortunately, my middle son had a speech delay. It came as a really big surprise and was quite distressing.

I called my local Infants And Toddlers Early Intervention program when he was around 17 months old. If he had been my first child, I am not sure I would have called them so early. Luckily, I had my oldest son to compare his speech progress to, and recognized early that he was delayed. (Not every child develops the same so you cannot always use a comparison. However, it helped me recognize the problem earlier since I was not a first time mother.)

He has come a long way with his speech and does not qualify for services anymore. I am so glad I was able to get help for him early. I have always had the fear in the back of my mind that Baby D would have speech issues as well. It is with great joy that I am writing this to say that he is right on track with his speech development!

It is so important to seek help as early as possible if you think your child might be behind in any development skills. Although it might be hard to face, early intervention is your best tool to help your child. Here is a  language development chart from Child Development Institute that can tell you if your child is progressing in typical language development.