Or can she?

While babies don't usually speak in full or partial sentences until around 12 months, they can communicate with parents in other ways.

Baby sign language is the newest screwdriver in the parenting toolbox.

Infants may not be able to use words, but since they comprehend the world around them, they can use their chubby little hands to communicate when they want more milk or need a new diaper.

"You'll have a much happier, brighter baby," says Shirley Crippen, a speech and language pathologist with Area Education Agency 267. "If I had my way, I would have information available to all moms in the delivery room."

Research on infant sign language began in the early '80s with Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn, childhood development researchers at the University of California-Davis. The professors began a 20-year, longitudinal study of 103 infants in 1982, much of which was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Goodwyn and Acredolo found that babies who learned sign language before they could speak learned to talk sooner and scored higher on intelligence tests than their non-signing peers. The babies developed larger vocabularies, and displayed more self-confidence. By the age of eight, children who signed as infants scored higher on IQ tests than those who had not.

Sarah LeClair-Jones taught her daughter Emma sign language when she was six months old. A speech and language pathologist in the Waverly schools, LeClair-Jones has taught sign language to her special needs students for years. Shortly after Emma was born in 2003, mom started reading about teaching babies sign language, and thought it would be a good skill for baby to learn.

The key to teaching an infant sign language, speech experts say, is consistency. Parents shouldn't teach baby sign language during a 30-minute session; instead, parents should integrate signs into the daily routine.

For example, every time LeClair-Jones served Emma milk, she'd sign "milk" and also say "milk." Every time they read a book, she'd sign "book" while saying "book."

Researchers also recommend teaching the signs to grandparents and child care workers.

"The more they see it, the faster they'll learn it," Crippen says.

Emma LeClair-Jones signed "more" four months after she first started learning. She also picked up the sign for milk and water. Once, mom filled the sippy cup with milk and gave it to Emma, who shook her head and then signed "water."

"If she wasn't a signing baby, I would have thought she just wasn't thirsty," LeClair-Jones says. "Instead, she could tell me what she wanted. She was so thrilled she could get what she needed."

Because sign language decreases a baby's frustration, it often leads to a tighter bond between parents and baby.

Crippen is always asked by curious parents if learning sign language hinders a baby's speech, when in fact, she says, it does just the opposite. Because you say and sign a word at the same time, baby will better understand a word's meaning.

Some baby sign language products use only American Sign Language. Some recommend modifying the ASL signs creating their own.

"It's teaching the power of communication," says LeClair-Jones.

By Stacey Palevsky