It’s not a big deal if your baby’s signs start to look the same. It happened to us too! That’s really the problem with baby’s doing ASL. The fact is that ASL is not designed specifically for babies so the handshapes, movements and where the signs are done are difficult to do correctly. Babies are still working out the bugs of working their complex muscles. They don’t always get the wrist twisting actions, the way the fingers should be manipulated and so forth. Often the sign appears in it’s simplest form.
So how do you know if your baby is doing the right sign and should you care that they all look the same? Context tells you, and no. If you ask your baby to do a sign and it looks pretty close and they do it each time in the same context or upon demand, then they are doing the sign and it’s good enough. That’s pretty much it, it doesn’t matter that signs start to look the same. Start counting each one of them toward his or her vocabulary. With time and practice the signs will look more and more like the true ASL form.