Hi Trish,
I started worring about my son's speech development when he was about 15 months old, but I didn't call ECI until he was 2. ECI was really great. We had a great speech therapist who absolutely loved my son. His speech improved a lot with their help. Now I wish that I had called them sooner.
The evaluation is free. Then if you qualify for services, you can file with your insurance or pay a monthly fee. We paid $20 a month 3 times during an entire years worth of services. Then our $60 was refunded because our insurance finally paid. Even if you have to pay the monthly fee, it is worth it.
They do an evaluation, so if your child does not need help, then they will tell you. If you child does need help, then they will help you. However, every city or county has their own ECI office and it seems to me that some offices do a better job than others. The people that we have worked with in Arlington have been great. I think that it would be worthwile to get an evaluation, which usually takes several visits. Then you can decide for yourself if you think they can help you. When I started seeing a speech delay in my youngest son also, I called ECI at 18 months. They are working with him now.
At age 3 kids that still need help move into the local school district's special education program. Now that is a whole different ballgame. They have not been very helpful at all. They denied my oldest son services last year. Over the summer, he was diagnosed with a Speech Processing Disorder by a neurodevelopmental pediatrician and a speech pathologist who both recommended speech therapy. They people at the school district are still acting like they think he does not need speech therapy.