TODDLER Niall Lawler has learned to communicate with sign language before he can talk - and he's not deaf.

Niall, who is two, started using sign language when he was about six months old - long before he was using words.

Niall's mum Kirsty, 29, who does not have a hearing problem either, began teaching him so that he could tell her what he wanted before his speech started.

Kirsty, a nursing assistant at Oaktree Court in Bubwith, a unit run by Selby and York Primary Care Trust, learned to sign through her job so that she could communicate better with any deaf patients.

The course was offered to her by York Health Services NHS Trust, which used to run the facility.

Kirsty said: "I had read that teaching children sign language is common in America and it can help a child develop faster.

"Niall picked it up very easily and he was able to communicate with me from a very young age. He knew colours, animals and foods.

"His speech came along leaps and bounds because he had learnt basic skills in communicating. He never stops talking now, his speech is very good."

Kirsty, of Derwent Drive, Barlby, has always spoken out loud to Niall as well as using sign language because she did not want to confuse him about noise and sounds.

She added: "He doesn't use sign language nearly as much now because he talks such a lot. But I often get both from him. He's very forward for his age and I think that teaching him a form of communication so young has given him extra confidence."

Some 150 staff at York Health Services NHS Trust have signed up for a sign language course. A spokeswoman for the trust said: "This is a great skill to learn and its good that Kirsty has been able to use it in the home as well as at work."

Updated: 10:54 Tuesday, April 09, 2002