An acronym created by Dr.
Sidney B. Simon, professor of Education, retired from the Univ. of Massachusetts. His activity, I Am Lovable And Capable, was developed to help children not put themselves down and learn to value themselves. He later wrote a book by that title. The activity has become so
popular that so many people have 'borrowed' it (
read "plagiarized") that they've separated his name and authorship from the material. He is still actively conducting trainings all over the US. Because the metaphor in the exercise is a SIGN with the IALAC letters on it, people say, "He ripped my sign" when they
mean "he hurt my feelings."