Ava Scott, a Newark Valley, N.Y., 20-month-old, puts down a plastic container of crackers and suddenly her hands begin to dance and flutter before her, like someone who let two butterflies out of a jar.

"It's sign language. She's saying we are being silly," says Lisa Scott, her mother, as Ava wiggles her fingers before her nose.

"We started teaching her to sign when she was 6 months," says Brett Scott, Ava's father. "We used videotapes called 'Signing Time.' "

In Owego, N.Y., Hannah Koroluck, 2, also signs, especially to say "please," "more" and "thank you."

BRIGHT FUTURES

A series of books out from the Putnam Publishing Group offers titles like "How to Teach Your Baby Math" and "How to Give Your Baby Encyclopedic Knowledge." The box of a DVD and word card set called "Your Baby Can Read!" created by Smart Kids, promises it "delivers tools that will make an incredible difference in your child's life!"

These products all make big claims. But can they back it up?

"We were worried at first that teaching Ava to sign could delay her speech, and some of our relatives said that could happen," said Brett Scott. "In fact, we think it has definitely been the opposite. She became obsessed with the videos and then started talking early."

Like Ava, babies seem to like signing because they exhibit a preference for languages over "non-languages." A 2002 study by Ursula Hildebrandt, then a doctoral student at the University of Washington, showed hearing 6-month-olds two television monitors; one told a story in American Sign Language and the other showed the same story in pantomime. Babies showed longer eye contact and attention to the ASL version, Hildebrandt reports.

THE JUMP-START THEORY

Tom Kelleher, of Binghamton, N.Y., says he and his wife see results using educational products with their baby, Noah.

"We have used and continue to use many tools to help develop our baby's brain," says Kelleher. "This, of course has contributed to him being the smartest baby on the planet," he says, laughing.

Researchers say there is a window of time between 5 months and 5 years when babies can learn easily. These products seek to capitalize on that opportunity.

Linda Acredolo, a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and Susan Goodwyn, professor of psychology at California State University, Stanislaus, are largely credited with creating the popularity of sign language for babies through their 20 years of research.

Their long-term study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, tested more than 140 children at intervals from age 11 months to 36 months and then again at age 8. Though some educators caution that signing may delay language development, Acredolo and Goodwyn found that babies who had been taught to sign began talking earlier and in longer sentences than those who didn't sign. At 3, children who signed talked at 4-year-old levels; at 8, those children scored an average of 12 points more on IQ tests.

LET THEM BE BABIES

Naysayers range from those who raised smart kids the old-fashioned way, without fancy products, to researchers who actually think that watching videos can harm infants, by "addicting" them to a medium statistically associated with obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.

While Theresa Partell of Binghamton N.Y., saw great results for son Matthew with the "Baby Mozart" video and a book called "Baby Signs," by Acredolo and Goodwyn - his IQ today is in the 96th percentile - Barb Surek, of Windsor, N.Y., says she raised a bioengineer and teacher using "books, pencils, crayons, paper and their imaginations."

Leonard Hilldale, a Hillcrest, N.Y., father of twin boys, says he finds the push to educate babies "just silly."

"They are going to spend the rest of their lives working and learning. This robs them of their youth," he says. "Parents are so competitive these days, they want their baby to crawl first, talk first, walk first. Let kids be kids."

REAL PARENTS, REAL TIME

In the end, it may be the parental attention children get and the time parents spend with them, rather than videos and educational toys that best boost learning.

"I myself don't agree with trying to teach babies to actually read; they lack the cognitive abilities," says Brandi Craver, who teaches education workshops for parents at the public library in Greene, N.Y. "What you can do is prepare them for literacy."

"Games like patty cake, singing, nursery rhymes and other traditional infant play are all ways to get a baby ready for reading," Craver says. "A real person, not a video person, interacting with active speech with infants may be the best approach."

That advice is not likely to deter parents like the Kellehers who want to give their babies everything available. In fact, the couple is expecting again and already educating this new baby.

"We have already begun using music and sound while the baby is in the womb," Kelleher says, "barely the size of a large peanut."

Gannett News Service contributed to this report.