Training Course Testimonials 

School Testimonials

Sarah Fitzgerald - Senco/English Teacher

As a Senco, who is also an English teacher, I am passionate about breaking down the barriers that impede on a student's ability to both decode and comprehend texts. In September 2024, my department undertook the mammoth task of testing all of our Year 7-10 students for dyslexia, dyscalculia, reading ability, spelling ability and speech and language capabilities.  The results astounded us - 28% of the 800 students we screened showed some degree of dyslexia, and a further 16% showed signs of dyscalculia.  

Our next step was to ask parents to take their children to the opticians for stress testing, at a cost of £60 a time, a lot of this cost was covered by school but even that did not always encourage parents to get their child tested.  After seeing what the test involved through my own children being tested, it seemed like something we would like to offer in school.  This is when we found Crossbow Visual Stress Solutions. 

I can say without hesitation that it is the best decision we made - Pete and Sam made us feel at ease - the training was well delivered and easy to understand, they answered all of our questions with knowledge and consummate professionalism and were happy to discuss products we would like to see in the future; we provide all of our dyslexic students with dyslexia toolkits and have requested lilac whiteboards and small coloured notepads to complete the kits.

We were also really excited to see the range of 16 coloured overlays with corresponding coloured exercise books - we have just taken delivery of 100 of each colour last week and they are fabulous. We have also ordered the tint and track for the whole school so that students can use their particular colour overlay as a filter on the laptops.

And the impact?....word spread around school quickly and we had a number of students not at risk of dyslexia coming to us asking to be tested as they could not see black letters on a white page clearly, as well as students who were at risk for dyslexia and hadn't been taken for stress testing. Our biggest success to date has been a student whose behaviour had deteriorated significantly, upon testing, her reading rate increased by 85% with a dark blue overlay and she is now achieving some success in school with this simple fix.  We have also, on the recommendation of Pete and Sam, retested some of our students who had their overlays for 6 months - one student went from purple to grass green with a reading rate of 47% (he told us the purple overlay had started to look grey). The testing takes around 15-20 minutes per student and the results are instantaneous. We plan on some whole staff CPD on the values of stress testing soon and have even offered to test any member of staff who thinks they may need it.

I would urge all schools to do this training; it only takes a few hours but the impact of it for many students will last forever.

Workplace Testimonials

Joanne Hammersley - Head of Equality & Well-being - Fire Service
"Highly recommended..."
"....really happy with Crossbow, the course was well delivered and were having  really good feedback from all our current users. It compliments any DSE assessment and comes highly recommended."
West Midlands Fire Service   

"...was excellent, it was well structured, informal but very effective."
“The training on Visual Stress I received from Crossbow was excellent, it was well structured, informal but very effective.  I now have the skills to take back to my workplace to be able to carry out Visual Stress assessments with confidence. Since the training I have carried out a number of assessments,  the most recent assessment resulted in an increased reading speed of 23%, a great result” plus no moving words. Wow!"

Resources Testimonial

"I can read a lot quicker..."
"I did find it very useful, I have been using the note pad that you provided and I feel like I am not straining my eyes and it was easier to read and I can read a lot quicker, this helps when you have to skim through some notes that you take, this saves me time. I do feel it would benefit me if I could have a background of the colour that I have be diagnosed with as all my work is based on a computer. It just feels as though the words standout better for me."
West Midlands Fire Service


"At last! I can read my emails"
"At last! I can read my emails without having to print them off and take them home!"
Lincolnshire NHS Trust Manager


"I find overlays are incredibly useful...."
"From my point of view, I find overlays are incredibly useful. They reduce the stress on my eyes when I am working on the computer - which helps to reduce the amount of migraines I get. It also helps me to be able to take in more information, and focus more on my work. The overlays that I use on paper help to allow me to concentrate more and I find I’m not having to read information several times, like I do when I don’t use an overlay."
Staffordshire Fire & Rescue Service

Our services

"I would like to say how impressed we are with the quality of service from Crossbow in all aspects of our interaction with them..."
"On behalf of the Northamptonshire Dyslexia Association, I would like to say how impressed we are with the quality of service from Crossbow in all aspects of our interactions with them. We find them incredibly helpful, (nothing appears to be too much trouble), are always polite and friendly, knowledgeable about all their products and which resources are the most appropriate and cannot fault the speed of dealing with orders and delivery. We have no problems with promoting Crossbow to any of our clients or network contacts."
Pam Tomalin (Northamptonshire Dyslexia Association Helpline Adviser)