Cartoon Network (CN), a cable television channel belonging to Warner Bros. Discovery. Featured Craig of the Creek, an Emmy, GLAAD, and Annie-nominated animated TV series.

In the episode entitled "The Champion’s Hike," the main character Craig visits his Deaf friend Jackie’s house before heading off to look into a waterfall. The particular scenario involves Jackie conversing with his father in Black American Sign Language (BASL) as he’s leaving the family home in order to investigate the waterfall together with Craig.

This communication in BASL is a remarkable development for Craig of the Creek and for children’s TV shows. Jackie along with his father are one of the initial users of BASL to generally be depicted on kids’ TV. Utilized in Black Deaf communities around the US, BASL is actually a special method of ASL marked by features which include the signers’ body language and face expression. In addition to using a bigger area for signing, BASL users also employ more two-handed signs and integrate African-American English slang into their exchanges.

Working on an episode of Craig of the Creek called "Dodgy Decisions," in which Craig and Jackie are captains of opposite dodgeball teams, character designer Nick Winn proposed that Jackie could be Deaf or Hard of Hearing. As Winn says, "I just really liked Jackie. I liked that he was one of the silent champions [and] he was anonymous. We hadn’t really heard him speak."

Having seen an internet video of a person teaching sign language, Winn had the idea of getting Jackie use sign language on the program. This concept was alluring to the series creators as it provided an opportunity to explore why Jackie was always silent, along with the opportunity to make the show more inclusive of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community.

"The Champion’s Hike" episode of Craig of the Creek also illustrates the value of having hearing children learn ASL. Doing this will help them communicate more efficiently with regards to their Deaf and Hard of Hearing (Deaf/HoH) classmates and friends. These kids can feel more fully incorporated into their peer groupings. Being meant to be a part of the interaction at school and also on the play ground assists Deaf/HoH youngsters develop socially and academically quicker.

Using ASL to convey can certainly be an eye-opening experience for hearing kids. It will help them build a deeper relationship with diversified groups of people, therefore enhancing their cultural understanding and expanding their social network.

Due to the fact learning and using ASL offers youngsters numerous opportunities to broaden their horizons, more and more families are seeking ASL training sources.

An increasingly popular strategy is to learn ASL online by means of resources such as StartASL.com, which can be more enjoyable and simpler for youngsters than learning by following along with an in-person teacher. Online ASL learning also has the bonus that it can be done in the convenience of the family home and be adjusted to fulfill the needs of busy school and household daily activities.