It is important to be proactive if you worry your child may have a speech delay. Some easy ideas to work on speech with your child may be to make sure that they are not using a bottle for an over extended period or using a pacifier into the toddler years. A child should give up the bottle by age 10 to 18 months. Most speech therapists suggest drinking through straws to help children to strengthen their mouth muscles. They can also practice blowing bubbles or windmills. Speech can be learned through reading, games, and songs. Interact with your child as a positive role model of what speech should sound like but do it in a friendly, inviting way so that your child wants to be involved.
If your child still seems behind, bring it up to your doctor, the early intervention starts the better the results. Speech can be a sign of other issues like learning disabilities or mental retardation, but it is not necessarily what is going on with your child. It is best to address the problems as they arise, so if right now it only seems like speech is the issues, just address the speech.