Still not talking...

EK still isn't talking. She has been making some sounds lately, kind of what a baby does before they talk. But even these "sounds" don't represent an item and she won't imitate a sound we make that I've heard her say, like "ba" or "fa". At random times, she might say a real word (like when she said "block" at school last week) but we won't hear it again for a LONG time. It really makes you wonder what is going on in her brain!
We had a private speech evaluation done on Tuesday. It's not because we don't think her preschool teacher or ABA therapist aren't doing their job. I know her teacher and therapist are doing everything they can to encourage EK to talk. I guess we just wanted to see if someone else had an idea on how to get the words to come out again. Nothing much happened at the speech eval. besides the speech therapist asking me questions about what EK can/can't do. EK did rather well, anxiety-wise. One reason we quit speech last April was b/c she had 2 different therapists. She cried the WHOLE 30 minute session with one girl and then hardly cried at all with the other girl. EK did get upset when I told her not to eat the crayons, but she recovered in less than a minute. Much better than meltdowns used to be!
One thing we've been contemplating is PEC cards. (picture cards) I think the main reason I haven't been better about using them is because EK used to talk. These cards are usually used for non-verbal kids. Ms. Sharla has used them this year for compliance. For example, she showed EK a card of a child sitting in a chair when she asked EK to sit in her chair. She hasn't used them for requesting something because we know she can say it or I should say we knew she could say a word back in September/October. Now that it's been over 3 months of NOT talking, I think we're going to have to do something...PECS or sign language. Something to get her to make choices again and have a desire to ask for something. Right now, she usually takes anything I give her for a snack, lunch, etc. She just doesn't seem to care. That's not ok with me.
The private speech therapist basically said the same thing that Ms. Sharla and I have been discussing. The only downfall could be that EK will not have the motivation to talk. It'll be easy to give me/Ms. Sharla a card to get what she wants. Most studies show that kids do eventually speak when using PECS cards, so that's reassuring. But most kids haven't lost all language this late in the game, like EK did. So, we'll see. I'll post some updates in the coming weeks. Pray that she catches on to this new concept quickly.
I have lots of pictures cards that I'm taking to be laminated on Monday. I was going to do it today, but we're pretty much stuck in the house since we got 11 inches of snow yesterday! :)