THE parents of Crudwell baby Harry Compton have used a pioneering technique to allow their son to communicate before he can talk.

Harry, 13 months, cannot yet speak but he can use sign language to tell his parents when he wants to eat or when he wants to go to bed.

Harry, of The Old School House in Crudwell, near Malmesbury, has been taught how to express himself with a series of signs by mum Jacqui, 32.

She started teaching Harry the method when he was eight months old, using a technique devised by American Joseph Garcia. A video and book illustrating the technique are stored by the Malmesbury branch of the National Childbirth Trust at the town's library.

Mr Garcia's method is based on the idea that babies have control over their hands long before they develop the finer motor skills needed for speech.

He claims that by the age of two, children who have learned to use signs have a vocabulary of 50 more real words than other children.

Harry knows how to show he wants food, more, milk, bed, and medicine.

"When he wants to go to bed Harry puts his hands together on the side of his head and when he is in pain he puts his finger in to the palm of his hand and draws a circle, that means medicine," said Mrs Compton.

"When he wants milk he squeezes his fingers in and out and when he wants to eat he puts his hand up to his mouth."

Mrs Compton said she and husband Robin, a farrier, are now teaching Harry how to illustrate words such as coat, car and dog.

"It's purely about association and it's taken away the frustration that many babies must feel in not being able to communicate," she said.

"When Harry has finished eating something but hasn't had enough he tells me he wants more.

"It has made us understand his needs so that he does not become frustrated trying to communicate with us."