Teachers at the Royal Institute taught French Sign Language (FSL). In 1816, an American educator of the deaf, Thomas Gallaudet (1787-1851), returned to the United States after studying the French techniques at the Royal Institute.
ASL is not the only form of sign language. Fingerspelling is one method in which hand-shapes (representing letters) are used to spell out each word of the English language while speaking. It is an unpopular method of communication and is tiring to use and interpret.