Chuck Gomes would love to know what his young daughter, Amelia is trying to tell him. But she's just over a year old, and can't speak. "As a first time parent, it's really frustrating not to know," Gomes told KOMO News.

The answer may lie in sign language.

"What I had read was that kids who go through sign language have a better comprehension level and reading level," Gomes says.

At Gracewinds Perinatal Services in Ballard, instructor Laura Tiberio teaches parents and their babies to sign. She says researchers watched hearing impaired families closely for years. "They noticed that those babies would communicate with sign language at about eight months old," Tiberio says of the research.

In the past decade, the technique has caught on with families who can hear just fine. These are families who just want to know what their baby is thinking.

"The language development centers of the brain are active and kids understand, and they know what they want," Tiberio says.

So what can you teach your 1-year-old to say through signing?

"Milk, they want more food, they can say 'more,'" Tiberio says. "If they need to have their dirty diaper changed, they can sign 'change.'"

But could using sign language become a "crutch" and delay normal speech development? Tiberio says no, and that it's worked for several kids, including her own.

However, there are still those who believe that some children rely heavily on the signs into three and four years of age, and that it can delay speech or lead to other speech issues.

Regardless, young mom Jenny McGovern remains eager to communicate with little Lucy. The word she really wants her daughter to learn?

"Bed," McGovern says with a laugh. "She's reaching a stage where she knows when she's tired, but we need to move that along a little bit. We've already introduced the food signs, and now we're ready for 'sleep.'"

For more information:

www.gracewindsperinatal.com