When you learn baby sign language through other programs, often times they will teach you made-up signs (or home signs). These are just variations of ASL signs that might be easier handshapes for a baby to produce.

I am teaching you real American Sign Language (ASL) signs. Over 10% of Americans have some degree of hearing loss and ASL is the third most commonly used language in the United States.

By teaching your baby vocabulary from a real language, you are opening up their world in a way that teaching them made-up signs simply could not do.

ASL IS NOT UNIVERSAL! Different sign languages are used in different countries or regions. For example, British Sign Language (BSL) and Australian Sign Language (Auslan) are different languages from ASL. There are more than 300 different signed languages.

American Sign Language (ASL) is a complete, natural language that has the same linguistic properties as spoken languages, with grammar that differs from English. You will learn more about this in the Itsy Bitsy Spider video.