TomTag – I Know What To Expect At School Kit

TomTag is a flexible visual support and communication tool that can be used to create personalised visual timetables, schedules, prompts and checklists helping children with daily routines or situations they find difficult by providing them with structure, predictability and reassurance– at home, at school and when out and about.

With the I Know What To Expect At School Kit, you can create portable and discrete personalised visual timetables and prompts to help a child know what to expect and how to behave at school.

A valuable classroom toolkit for busy teachers and support staff to help children understand the structure of their school day and to help develop their memory, organisation and independence skills.

Everything’s ready to go with TomTag’s colourful, sturdy tags, click-in buttons and symbol stickers. All you need to do is personalise it – just pick, stick, click and off you go. Most children love stickers so let them join in the fun! Helping set them up will encourage them to use it too!

Key benefits

• Creating structure and routine results in predictability which reduces a child’s anxiety and aids their concentration
• Showing a child what they need to do helps to reinforce verbal instructions
• Encouraging independent working and learning by giving a child responsibility for manging their own timetable
• Supporting transitions and encouraging the completion of less-preferred activities using simple First/Then/Next prompts helps reduce a child’s negative behaviour
• Communicating behavioural and social expectations helps a child understand and remember how to behave in the classroom
• Quickly and easily adapt a child’s timetable when something different is going to happen
• Time saving for busy educational staff as everything is ready with no printing, laminating or Velcro required!
• Strong and durable water-resistant stickers means a child’s timetable can easily be kept clean

Kit contents

• 6 TomTag Button Holders
• 40 blank buttons to give you the flexibility to create multiple timetables and prompts
• 1 attachment loop to fasten TomTag to a hook, belt or bag
• Easy to follow instruction sheet to assemble your TomTag
• School Timetable sticker pack which contains
  • 84 different symbol stickers (2 copies of each) for

• Lesson time:literacy, numeracy, geography, history, science, French, German, Spanish, PSHE, drama, music, art, RE, spellings, writing, reading, ICT, DT/craft, sewing, cooking
• In the classroom:register, brain gym,  mental maths, assembly, story, lesson, role-play, computer time, story time, work time, show & tell, circle time, group work, test, singing
• Around school:swimming, gymnastics, dance, sport, football, netball, PE, snack time, lunchtime, packed lunch, play time, buddy time, forest school, library, play date, school club, field trip, concert, bus, home
• Rules & behaviour:listen, ask, stop, help, good work, put hand up, be quiet, sit down, cross legs, line up, put away, reward star, now, next, first, then

• 12 blank round stickers for personalisation
• 8 blank rectangular stickers to label your TomTag Button Holders

Dimensions

• TomTag Button Holder:18cm x 3cm
• Buttons: 2cm diameter

The TomTag I Know What To Expect Range 

The TomTag I Know What To Expect range was originally designed by a mum to help her autistic son, Tom. With this range, it’s quick and easy to make personalised visual timelines, schedules  and reminders which can be used anywhere in the home, at school, in care settings or when out and about.

TomTag visual supports can provide structure and guidance to the day or week ahead, helping to lessen anxieties and mange expectations about what is going to happen. This can lead to improvements in behaviour, communication and encourage personal responsibility and independence.

These are truly versatile visual supports.  Use the tags singly to highlight sections of the day or particular tasks. Work towards using just one tag to cover a whole routine or time of day.

TomTag is easy to clean and keep hygienic. TomTag’s plastic button holders and blank buttons can be washed in warm water and a little hand soap should they become dirty and dried with a soft cloth. The stickers are highly water resistant. Simply wipe over with a wet cloth or anti-bacterial wipe.

How does TomTag work?

TomTag uses symbols to show a series of separate tasks or steps involved in a task that are part of a routine, a sequence of events in a timeline or they can be used as a list to teach a new skill by breaking down a single activity into smaller steps.

Many children with autism and other additional needs have strong visual skills. They are more likely to remember and understand what they have seen rather than what they hear. Using a visual support like TomTag to present information visually and in a step-by-step manner allows visual thinkers and learners to take in information at their own pace. Visuals can also act as a reminder when children forget what’s been said or become distracted, TomTag helps to bring their attention back to the task or current situation.

Our Customers say

“I’m able to wear the tag on my lanyard which is easily accessible in class and outside whilst enabling my children with autism to comprehend what they need to do!”

“They allow my 7 year old to create, then to carry his visual timetable with him at school. It is the only visual my son will use for school. ”

“A visual timetable of the day ahead tells me what to expect and in what order it will happen. When my day is predictable, it stops me getting anxious and I can concentrate better on my work. I can add or replace the symbols in my TomTag schedule really quickly and easily which helps me to know when there will be changes to my normal routine.”

” I was looking for something discreet and easy to resource. A great idea! The main benefit being the time saving aspect. Everything is ready and no faffy laminating and  Velcro!. Really impressed.

“TomTag saves busy education staff time, while also providing a practical yet likely desirable tool towards independence for children.” Alison Wilcox, Head of Education, NASEN

WARNING: Please note – TomTag is not a toy. Not suitable for children under 36 months due to small parts.