ABOUT US
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT US...
At the heart of it, we’re a family unit of four, mum, dad, our little boy and our ragdoll cat. Our mascot and biggest supporter is our little boy, Rohan. From a young age we always had a sneaky suspicion Rohan was different… that Rohan was special. It was only when he turned 3 years old that we discovered Rohan’s secret power… we found out he is Autistic.
One of the hallmarks of this was his lack of oral communication, from being a toddler to now a tornado he has always struggled to communicate his needs, wants and desires to us orally.
Enter PECS – Picture Exchange Communication System was something that was encouraged by Rohan’s Speech and Language Therapist and he took to it quicker than he does to his favourite cartoons on YouTube… we knew we were on to something, we knew this was the gateway to better communication with our son. We were given a number of Picture Communication Symbol (PCS) cards laminated in plastic. Although Rohan was able to use them, we struggled with him chewing, eating and sometimes swallowing the cards as he craves sensory feedback via his mouth.
And so Touch of Zen Communications was born. With Naila’s unconditional love of nature and Usman’s engineer’s eye for detail, we began to craft our own personalised visual communication cards for Rohan. Something he wouldn’t chew, bend or rip but something he could still use to communicate with us. We started to create his card collection on wooden tiles to help us on a safer, more sustainable journey to better communication with him.
And now we are ready to bring you with us on our journey… join us in our mission to provide better, more sustainable communication to anyone with oral communication difficulties!
OUR PRODUCT JOURNEY
WHERE WE STARTED
After discovering Rohan, our little boy, is autistic we were provided with laminated PCS cards by NHS England.
Rohan loved to chew his way through these often destroying the materials.
We knew we had to come up with an alternative….
WHAT WE FIRST DEVELOPED
Though mouthing most materials became the norm at home, we noticed Rohan’s wooden toys were far more robust and were far less damaged than his other toys and plastic PCS cards.
It was at this point we decided to give Wooden PCS cards a go. We developed the prototype on the right but found they were too large and difficult to handle.
So we went back to the drawing board…
WHAT WE ENGINEERED
We came up with a number of iterations, allowing our trusted quality assurance officer, Rohan, to test them as we came up with different shapes, sizes and shades. We found the above size allowed for easy handling, was lightweight and extremely robust for day to day use while maintaining a good size graphic and text.
We noticed Rohan enjoyed running his fingers over the card and getting sensory feedback from the engravings, he seemed to prefer the cards with the deeper engravings and finer details.
"We Work Hard To Provide You With The Best Quality Visual Communication Solutions"
Touch of Zen Communications has been developed around the needs of our own child and our combined passions and hobbies. Taking Usman’s love for woodworking and design and Naila’s love for the environment and conservation we have developed high quality, sustainable visual communication cards for the environmentally conscious person.
We work hard to provide you with the best quality communication solutions for your loved ones. We have developed a robust product that will provide longevity over the traditional laminated paper cards. Our cards are durable, tactile and made from sustainably sourced wood.
Meet Our Team
We are a family run venture built around the needs of our child. Our journey has helped us to discover a means of visual communication while incorporating our passions for sustainability, woodworking and innovation. Meet the team!
NAILA QASMI
Naila has over 10 years experience of working in the nature conservation sector and is the practical driving force behind Touch of Zen Communications and our personal journey into visual communication and autism. A creative at heart, she originally came up with the idea of wood based tactile visual communication cards. Naila undertakes the styling and photography of our products, and manages our social media channels.
USMAN KHALIQ
Usman has been working within the Civil Engineering industry for over 10 years and really enjoys the design element of the work. He also has a passion for woodworking and can always be found involved with woodwork projects around the home. Usman undertakes the majority of the design and production work of our products given his keen eye for detail and technical ability. He is our resident IT expert and manages the day to day running of our website.
ROHAN QASMI-KHALIQ
The reason behind it all. Rohan plays a key role in keeping the team motivated at all times giving us hugs and kisses when needed. He also tests all of our new designs for practical application as well as their robustness. Rohan is autistic and non-speaking but is learning new words every day thanks to his visual communication cards and amazing support group!
