I Know What To Expect First/Then (At School) Mini Kit

£10.00

Tom was anxious about school. He worried about what was going to be happening during the school day and how he was meant to behave. We were concerned that his stress and anxiety at school would affect his concentration and ability to learn and potentially lead to challenging behaviour.

We already used a visual schedule at home to help him know what to expect during his day and this led to a reduction in his anxiety levels and improvements in his behaviour. It was therefore essential that Tom had a visual timetable at school to help him navigate his day. So he could move more smoothly between lessons and activities like playtime, lunchtime and home time 

We put together this mini kit to help children like Tom who need to know what’s going on and in what order when they are at school and as a teaching tool to help teachers develop their pupil’s memory, organisation and independence skills.

Key benefits

  • Creating structure and basic routines with individualised school timetables makes the school day more predictable and helps reduce a child’s anxiety 
  • Teaching simple sequencing, task ordering and time management skills  encourages organisation skills and independent learning
  • Using simple First/Then/Next prompts  supports transitions between tasks and encourages completion of less- preferred activities
  • Communicating behaviour expectations to a child without constant verbal prompting leads to better understanding of classroom rules 
  • 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 wiped clean

Kit contents 

  • 2 TomTag Button Holders (please specify your colour preferences in the notes section at checkout ) 
  • 20 blank buttons to give you the flexibility to create different timetables 
  • 20 symbol stickers for you to choose from to make personalised timetables
  • 4 blank stickers to use for additional items or tasks 
  • 4 blank rectangular stickers to label your TomTag Button Holders
  • Easy to follow instruction sheet to assemble your TomTag

Dimensions

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

Symbols included

  • lesson, play time, work time, circle time
  • home time, snack time, lunch time, story
  • spellings, numeracy, reading, writing
  • sport, computer time, be quiet, sit nicely, reward star
  • FIRST, NEXT, THEN (as words)

Click the image to enlarge and view gallery

For an extended kit with additional symbols for more detailed timetables and schedules you may like the TomTag I Know What To Expect At School Kit 

The TomTag I Know What To Expect Range 

With the TomTag I Know What To Expect 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 hygienic, durable and portable but most of all it’s fun to use. Most children love stickers so let them join in the fun. Helping set them up will encourage them to use them too!

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

“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.”

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

Symbol images produced under licence from Widgit Symbols (C) Widgit Software 2002-2024 www.widgit.com. All other images (C) Orkid Ideas Limited 2024

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