Hellobee Boards

We use ASL signs with our LO. We do basics, just so she can communicate without grunting. It's worked really well we didn't really start until a year, and even then we're not super gung-ho. But she's picking up on it really quickly and consistently uses what we've taught her, along with trying to say the word with it. I wasn't a big believer, but it's nice to see her not be so frustrated.

They teach E some signs at daycare. He occasionally flashes one at me, and I didn't know what they meant so I looked up this chart. http://www.babysignlanguage.com/chart/
I want to get more consistent about using them at home now that he's one and started to use them more often. I would definitely be an improvement on the whining.

ETA: if you click on the link for the PDF it shows the pictures much larger and you can see the signs more clearly

@NaturallyCathy: sure. There is an ap, I think it's called "baby sign". There is a video series that we rented from the library called "baby signing time" and there is a book called "American sign language for hearing parents of deaf children" that we found useful. It got us more fluent than just a few words

If you are just looking for a way for him to communicate with you, it shouldn't matter what version of sign language you use. It could be ASL or baby or whatever. Plus each kid will do each hand movement slightly differently.

We have the "baby signs" app and LO loves watching it. She's 17 months and has been consistently playing with the app for about two weeks. She's picked up on several of the signs already, like eat, finished, bath, hurt.

We have this: http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/1401902901 and I also had these with Ellie: http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Sign-Language-Flash-Cards/dp/1401917704/ref=pd_sim_b_3 (not because we used them as flash cards, but because she liked to look at the pictures, and I used them to teach myself more useful signs). I signed lots with Ellie, because, like your son, she had a HUGE receptive vocabulary but wasn't talking (was barely putting two words together at age two). It helped immensely in her feeling confident and like she could communicate with me and with others. I was planning to sign with Lorelei, but she is already putting multiple words together at 14 months and so we just ended up skipping it because it didn't seem like she would benefit too much. I started with Ellie when she was a year old, and because she understood so much, it only took seeing most signs a handful of times for her to pick them up and start using them. It also helps to focus on the ones you think he would use the most (typically things like, 'eat,' 'more,' 'help,' etc.). Good luck! Signing is such a wonderful way to build relationship and communication.

@NaturallyCathy: Baby Sign Language Basics by Monta Z. Briant and google have been my resources so far :). I'm looking into flash cards and signing time right now. I think he's at a great age to learn. I'm glad I didn't stress about it earlier, LO is picking signs up in a day now.

Our LO started learning baby sign language in daycare. They start teaching them right away, so he started around 4 months old. They send a list of basic signs home with him everyweek so we can practice. I think there are a lot of good books on amazon that you can use.