WILL + GRACE star Debra Messing has successfully taught her son ROMAN sign language - even though he's just 10-months-old.

The redhead beauty has been giving her offspring lessons on communicating without words because she's learned it's far easier for youngsters to pick up at a certain age.

She says, "I was just reading up and I learned that supposedly children can understand and communicate a full year before they're physically able to with their mouths, and that a lot of the crying is about frustration, about wanting to communicate.

"So we just started trying and now he's signing. He's signed 'milk' and then 'more'.

"I was reading about this doctor who researched for two decades about hearing children of deaf parents and then learning sign language and that the communication and comprehension it just helped in some way. I just thought it was interesting.

"I also thought it was sort of neat that there's sort of this discretion, that he could he could be across the room and he could (sign 'milk') to me and I could know exactly what he wants instead of me (lifting up my top and) going, 'You want some?'"

02/02/2005 09:14