Lámh Sign For SORRY

Welcome to the Sign Of The Week.

Today, I am teaching you a sign that can help you when working on promoting social skills with your students, the sign for SORRY.

Young children often show concern when other children are upset and crying. Support your students understanding other children’s feelings, and encourage them to do something kind for their friends.
Some children might even hug the other child spontaneously.

But it’s not until a later stage (in typically developing children this happens at the ages of 4-5, and for children with developmental delays, particularly for autistic children, it can happen much later) that they can see issues from the other person’s perspective.

It’s only when they can put themselves in someone else’s shoes that they are ready to understand that something they did might have been upsetting for another child. Only when the child can understand that, you can start teaching them how to apologise to others.

Some of your students may not be ready to understand the concept of apologising. In this case, you should focus on teaching them about the incident that has happened. For example, if a child hits another child, keep your response short and direct: “no hitting” or “gentle hands”, as this message will be more effective rather than focus on saying sorry.

If a child is not ready, forcing him to apologise, does little good. Instead, focus on the child who has been hurt and offer an apology and comfort.

However, older students who understand other people’s emotions and what they did has upset someone else, you can start working on the concept of apologising.
Help them understand that what they did is not ok and why, and teach them what behaviours are more appropriate. Then, encourage them to apologise to the other person by saying SORRY or doing something nice for them.