Infants using sign language to communicate

Nine-month-old Alexandra lets her mother know when she is hungry. Andrew, 11 months, makes it clear he wants some milk.

Nine-month-old Alexandra lets her mother know when she is hungry. Andrew, 11 months, makes it clear he wants some milk. They may be too young to speak, but Alexandra and Andrew have joined the growing numbers of hearing babies who are learning sign language to tell their parents what they want.

Once confined to communicating with the deaf, sign language is now undergoing a rebirth as a way for new parents to understand the needs of their offspring long before they can talk.

8220;It is about empowering children to communicate. They can communicate with you at an early age and not be frustrated,8221; said Etel Leit, who runs baby sign language classes in Los Angeles.

Dismissed by some critics as a fad or part of the over-achieving parent syndrome, baby signing is spreading in many parts of the US. But 8220;the biggest interest is in California. People in California love new and interesting things,8221; said Professor Deena Bernstein, head of speech language hearing sciences at Lehman College in New York.

Books, flashcards, videos and classes hail the benefits of teaching babies as young as 6 months old to sign with their parents, promising improved IQ, accelerated speech development and less frustration for everyone during the 8220;terrible twos8221;.

Professor Bernstein is skeptical of some of the loftier claims. She said more scientifically controlled evidence was needed to persuade her that signing alone accelerates intellect or language development any more than long periods of one-on-one attention, reading and stimulating play.

But while devotees include actress Debra Messing of 8220;Will 038; Grace8221; and a toddler who signed with Robert de Niro in the 2004 Hollywood comedy 8220;Meet the Fockers8221;, some mothers are meeting opposition from older relatives, who feel the classes will delay language development. Leit, however, stresses combining signing with talking to babies rather than replacing speech with signs.

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And she has some encouraging success stories, like the one about the mother who went into her crying 13-month-old at night and the child signed that she was scared. A car alarm was blaring outside and when the window was closed the child went back to sleep. 8220;The mom would never have realised that without signing, because at 13 months, a child can8217;t say, 8216;I8217;m afraid8217;.8221; said Leit. And there8217;s psychology professor and mom Susan Murphy, who said she joined the class because of research that suggested signing reduces frustration.