Founder of ‘life-changing’ SEN communication tags urges community to get involved in festive competition
The founder of “life-changing” SEN communication tags has urged the community to get involved in her business’ festive competition.
Sophie Haynes launched SEN Talk Tags in March, which was inspired by her five-year-old son’s autism diagnosis and aimed to help him express his needs and emotions.
What started as a personal project quickly grew into providing durable, 3D-printed communication tools for non-verbal and neurodivergent children.
Unlike laminated alternatives, these tags are waterproof, wipe clean and built to last, meaning families and teachers no longer have to replace them regularly.
Sophie is proud to have designed products with real life in mind, which are ready for “sticky hands, unexpected spills and everyday adventures”.
It was in February when Sophie first began making the tags for her five-year-old and by March, SEN Talk Tags had been established to meet the demand among local families and people further afield.
The base set of emotions come as black or white square tags, with a keyring to attach them to a bag or lanyard. These include happy, sad, excited, worried and overwhelmed.
Sophie also does sets for needs and routines, including eat, drink, stop, go, help, please, thank you, home, car and hungry. The toilet set is among her most popular, as it has been praised for helping families with toilet training.
The ID tags let others know if a child is non-verbal or autistic. Sophie explained that these tags help people to understand and it minimises judgement and discrimination in public.
The tags can be personalised to suit the needs of different families and the range of emotions covered continues to grow on a daily basis.
Following the success of the business’ Halloween communication tag to support children during their experience of trick or treating, Sophie has launched a ‘Christmas design a tag competition’ and it is open to everyone.
Children and adults are invited to design a festive tag that helps say phrases like ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘thank you for my present’, aimed at young people who might need support over the Christmas period.
“It’s all about encouraging inclusive communication in a fun, creative way over the holidays,” Sophie told the Chronicle & Echo. “The winning design will be brought to life by SEN Talk Tags and sent to the winner, along with a special sensory Christmas bundle.
“The tag will also go on to support children all over the UK through the brand’s growing communication resources.”
There is a downloadable entry form on SEN Talk Tags’ website or a photo of the design can be emailed to Sophie on [email protected]. The deadline for competition entries is November 15.