My son is 15 month old. He can run around OK but still can't speak except for random sounds. One of the sounds he's fond of making is "ba". My in-laws seem to think he's meaningfully calling out "baba" (i.e. papa) but it seems pretty random to me. He's just as likely to make that sound regardless of whether I'm there or not as long as it captures people's attention. He's also started to make a "grrrr" growling noise. Family run daycare around where we live start at around $1000/month for a 8am-5pm kind of schedule. Professional ones start at $1500+.
The SSAT is the Secondary School Admissions Test. There's a number of high schools out there that require you to take this as part of the admission process. This test is usually taken in the 6th grade or so. It's probably the first real standardized test that matters.