Depending on the complexity of the specific facts and circumstances involved in your case, additional time beyond the 18 months may be required to reach a resolution. An attorney experienced in handling custody cases should be aware of this Supreme Court Rule and the specific time constraints involved in custody cases.
The importance of critical thinking. Critical thinking is a domain-general thinking skill. The ability to think clearly and rationally is important whatever we choose to do. If you work in education, research, finance, management or the legal profession, then critical thinking is obviously important. But critical thinking skills are not restricted to a particular subject area.
The more you use a language (through reading or learning new words somehow) the more your neurons your brain is making. With more paths in your brain the more information you can store. Thus language does play a role in critical thinking. Not much - the actual process of critical thinking, of distinguishing sound reasoning from unsound, is pre-verbal. Language only comes into play in importing the conditions to be critically thought about and exporting the results arrived at. This is my own on-the-fly opinion, not something I've proven or seen proven.