Sunday, October 21, 2012

TOS Review - Crossbow Education: Reading Rulers



"Reading Tools Anyone Can Grab"
PO Box 1977 Davidson, NC 28036
(704) 987-1501 

 The TOS Review Crew is reviewing the Crossbow Reading Rulers from Crossbow Education. I have to say that the name of the company immediately struck me as odd until I was researching what I was going to be using. Then, after knowing the meaning I thought what a wonderfully powerful name it was. The founders of Crossbow believes as Christians that the Cross and Rainbow are two wonderful, most power symbols we have as Christians. Man oh man - The power of knowing the meaning of a name.
So I was already super happy to start using this product. It gave me such a charge!

 
My ruler model ~ Isn't he just the cutest?

 My family received for review a pack of 10 eye level reading rulers. These are colored and have 2 separate sections on each end. One space, which is the space we all used was the smallest space on the top of the ruler. It allows you to read one line at a time. The other side of the ruler is large and you can fit several lines within the ruler. Just depends on your book. All reading rulers are colored. I found that I loved the pink and orange ones best(yes I really used them myself). My son picked the yellow and won't allow it to be used for anyone else. My smallest likes to just pick one that's laying on the bookshelf each time. My daughter likes the purple best.

Your probably like I was and your wondering what in the world is a reading ruler? Does it measure your book? LOL ~ No.  The Eye Level Reading Rulers are an overlay that you place over your text in your book that acts as a highlighter about the size of a six-inch ruler. Discreet and portable, the reading ruler is made of a combination of opaque and transparent plastic that both underlines the text and highlights it in a coloured tint. Simply read the text through either of the tinted plastic strips of your selected color, and track down the page: broad strip for paragraphs; narrow strip for single lines.
  
These rulers help with Dyslexia and Visual Stress. However I personally have never been tested for any learning disability, two of my children do have learning disabilities and we found GREAT use out of this product in our home!

I personally wanted to have these, I am 29. I have a horrible problem while reading with my eyes floating around. I either have to use my finger(yes really) or use an index card. I really seen a huge improvement in my ability to stay focused using this ruler. 

My smallest son 7, is just learning to read and we do believe he is struggling with Dyslexia and eye stress and I have seen this help him a bunch. We actually cut one to stay in his All About Reading Readers. He was having such a horrible time I was thinking of having to put off reading for another year or so. But things are looking better. He's not getting as frustrated as he had been. I had been having him use an index card for readers and his fluency sheets in his AAR. Since so many first readers and his daily AAR readers are smaller than a normal book, we actually cut the reading ruler in half. Yeah really lol!! It didn't fit well and it was harder for him to handle so we just cut it in half and he has used it with ease ever since. 


On to my oldest son, 12. He has the same problem as his momma. He can't ever seem to keep his place. EVER! No matter what he is reading. So he has always used an index card just like me. He does have a learning disability Children's Auditory Processing Disorder, so I loved the movement of him having to move each line he read which in turn kept him involved in what he was reading so therefore he paid attention better. He needs to constantly stay engaged to be able to understand and process what he is learning. So this ruler really helped DS1 in two ways. One to help him keep his place. Two to help him stay involved while reading. 


Then we come to my lovely daughter, 9. She is a reader. She loves to read and doesn't have any issues at all with loving it or doing it. I need to check and see if they make anything for Math... That on the other hand is another story for her! She honestly doesn't need any help or fixing in reading. BUT since her brothers and mommy was using them she was offered to use one as well. She normally picks the purple one. She doesn't use it all the time but she does pick it more than I thought she would want it. She said she likes reading in color!


You can see from our household that the Reading Rulers are for any age that will use them! 
Again we where sent the 10 pack that retails for $16.95, but there are other options from Crossbow. You can buy 5 for $9.45. 

Crossbow has several other learning aids that would be awesome for your kids. I actually am thinking of purchasing the Initial Blends Game.

Overall I enjoyed this highly. I can't brag enough about the Reading Rulers we where provided. If I would of known such a product existed before this review I would have bought them! I needed them. I am glad they worked just as I needed them to for each of my family members! Also they are a North Carolina company, which is my state all my life!

                             You can see how they might have used it differently than we did.


Disclaimer: I was provided a 10 pack of Reading Rulers through the TOS Crew in exchange for an honest review of my thoughts based on how I used this in our home.

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