About us

                                  DIRECTORS

Bob and Anne Hext are the directors of the company. Crossbow Started in 1992 when Bob was teaching SpLD children for the Special Needs Support Service in Gloucester (U.K.) Originally a mainstream English and French teacher, (started teaching in 1973) Bob began working full-time with Special Needs children in 1988. After finding that games were often the only way to motivate the more disaffected among some of his French students, he soon began devising similar approaches with the dyslexic and EBD children he was working with, and needless to say found them successful often when nothing else worked. The first games to be published were Wordbuilder and Knockout. The other "Spring" games (so named because when played competitively in a group all the players "spring" to action as soon as the dice roll- it's good noisy stuff!) and the Spin-its followed on their success, and we've gradually expanded since then. Bob has maintained some teaching for most of the time, and currently works part-time with 9-year olds in a local special school. Anne is usually the Lady on the Phone, taking care of the administration (= sorting out Bob's messes!), and now doing most of the layout and design work on our range of books.

     Outside of the specialist Dyslexia teaching field, where our reputation in the U.K. is established and we are recommended by national and international experts (as well as many teachers and Educational Psychologists,) we are not so well known- mainly because we don't spend vast amounts of money filling your journals with adverts and your waste bins with mailshots! However if you order any of our materials having visited us online, we believe you'll understand why the people who do know who we are usually go on and recommend us to someone else...

                                 AUTHORS

Thomas Aidey       Jenni Beard        Hugh Bellamy          Stephanie Dart

Hilary Gough          Bob Hext         Beve Hornsby         Alan Pattinson

   Ann Tottman and Maggi Ford

Thomas Aidey (Phonic Wordsearch)
...has no direct involvement with lliteracy teaching whatsoever! His Mum, however, runs a very successful dyslexia teachers' workshop, and Thomas produced the book of wordsearches as a sixth form (if you're not in the U.K., let's say high school graduation) project. He worked closely with tutors from the workshop, and SEN co-ordinators from his local schools to produce Phonic Wordsearch, which I think is one of the best books of its type you can buy. The codes are a brilliant idea- children really enjoy them. Thomas is now at University studying engineering, and doesn't think he'll have time to do another volume. Pity.

Jenni Beard (Study Skills- a Multisensory Guide)
Jenni is the learning Support Adviser at the University of Buckingham (U.K.), where she lectures on Study Skills and works closely with multi- and bilingual dyslexic students. She was a speaker at the International Symposium on Dyslexia and Multilingualism (BDA, Manchester 1999). Dyslexic herself, Jenni know the problems from her own life, and her Multisensory Guide is an invaluable digest of personal experience and professional advice.

Hugh Bellamy (Rime Time)
Dr. Hugh Bellamy is currently Deputy Head of West Somerset Community College, was previously Senior Master of Appleford School, a specialist school for dyslexic students, and was SEN Co-ordinator at Castle School Taunton, another large Comprehensive, where, together with Stephanie Dart, he developed and piloted the Rime Time course. Hugh has also been a course tutor on the RSA Diploma course for SpLD teachers, and has lectured widely in the U.K. on dyslexia-related topics. He is also very good at cricket.

Stephanie Dart (Rime Time, Rime Read)
Stephanie Dart is an RSA diplomatist who worked with Hugh Bellamy at Castle School Taunton before moving on to become a Dyslexia tutor for her Local Education Authority, and now works with dyslexic children in a variety of school settings. She is currently also engaged in some work looking at the special needs of gifted children.

Hilary Gough (Magic-E Spin-it, Suffixing Spin-it)
Hilary is practising SpLD teacher of many years experience who was one of the first to qualify with the Dyslexia Institute. Since then she has amassed a vast treasury of effective and fun resources of which our two Spin-it games represent just a very small fraction. We hope to publish more of her material in the future.

Bob Hext .You don't want to hear any more about me!
I'm responsible for CVC, Final Blends, and Prefix Spring, Strike, Knockout, Deebees, The Wordbuilder Set, Hotwords, Pot the Lobster, Take the Mick, Limericks Laughs and Vowel Digraphs, Making Games Work, Spingoes, Oh No, Dice Football, and (with Anne) Tens'n'units. I'm not very good at cricket.

The late Beve Hornsby (The Hornsby Pelmanism Games)
Professor Beve Hornsby was one of the great pioneers of the Dyslexia movement. Among her books are Overcoming Dyslexia, and (with Frula Shear) Alpha to Omega (Heinemann), which has become a standard work for teaching dyslexic students. Founder of the Hornsby International Dyslexia Centre in London, Beve Hornsby was an inspiration to all who are involved in the teaching of literacy, whatever the ability or difficulties of the students. I don't think Beve was very good at cricket either.

Alan Pattinson (Bing Bang Bong, Win Wine Winner)
I don't know what Alan is like at cricket, but as a teacher I reckon he must have been brilliant. He's a retired headmaster, and he's probably got more teaching games stashed away in his attic than I've had hot dinners (and I've had a few!). We've spent hours with him sorting through his material, which we are planning to put into a book of games and game ideas which will complement "Making Games Work". Bing Bang Bong and Win Wine Winner are just a taste of things to come.

Ann Tottman and Maggi Ford (FUNICS)
Ann and Maggi have worked for many years as teachers and Primary Language Advisers in South-East London, where they have been training Infants teachers in the FUNICS approach to Phonological Awareness since the mid-1990s. Both are also qualified dyslexia teachers, holding the RSA SpLD teacher's diploma. Until 1998 Ann was course tutor on the Greenwich RSA diploma and Certificate courses for dyslexia teachers.

Anne Henderson (Maths Language Posters)
Anne is an international speaker and author on dyslexia and mathematics, probably best know for her book "Maths and Dyslexics", from which come the original designs for the Maths Language Posters which our own Anne (Hext) has enhanced with her appealing designs. Anne first approached us as early as 1997 about collaborating on her posters, but I think they've been worth waiting for! Although travelling as far afield as Argentina and Hong Kong on her lecturing tours
Anne Henderson still teaches at the Bangor Dyslexia Unit in North Wales, U.K., where she is based.