I heard so many Early Intervention success stories and it sounded like a wonderful thing at the conference, however, I too had issues when I tried to get Dakota signed up for it. Florida does pay for it, however, my problem is that we live on a little island with no pediatric therapists on the Island and nobody willing to drive that far (honestly it's not that far, 20 minutes from Naples, FL, but people from the mainland act like it is the boonies). I got the EI evaluation people to come to my house but they told me straight up that they did not currently have a therapist willing to travel to my home, so if Dakota did qualify, I would have to bring her somewhere. When they did evaluate her, they decided she did not qualify. She only said one word at 18 months old ("hot") and did not even babble anything else but they said she met all the requirements because she understood everything and followed directions very well and did not qualify for speech. She did not eat very much, but because she knew how to hold a spoon and knew how to feed herself (not that she liked to or did very much), she did not qualify for speech therapy for food. So I was disappointed and suspected that our location was playing into their evaluation, but in the end we just kept working with her ourselves and she is completely on target now and I think, even smarter than average - definitely more sweet and adorable than average, at least in her mama's eyes =). Well, except for the pooping in the potty thing, but there is always something. Anyways, I would in no way ever discourage any CDH mom or dad from trying every option to get their child therapy and help, especially when it's free! I was very glad I tried. I think it has helped so many, many kids. We just live in a weird place.