Monday, December 7, 2009

Psychology Today adds blogger on dyslexia

From Robert Langston (pictured) at Psychology Today. He is the founder of the For the Children Foundation and author of The Power of Dyslexic Thinking.


When my publicist first contacted me, saying that Psychology Today wanted me to write a blog for them, I was flattered and excited. Here is one of the top publications in the world for psychology, with 75,000 visitors to the site per day and 4 million page views a month, asking me to share information to help people better understand dyslexia and other learning challenges, asking me to write for them.

After the euphoria of the moment wore off, it hit me: "Rob, you are DYSLEXIC, and you are being asked to write a legible article every week or so." I said to myself, "Wow! That's not going to happen."

The only problem was, in true dyslexic fashion, I had impulsively jumped at the chance to potentially help so many people and immediately accepted PT's offer. Today, one week after setting up my blog account, I am an expert blogging on dyslexia for Psychology Today, and this is my first blog.

Don't get me wrong, I know a lot about dyslexia. In the past twenty-five years, I have graduated from the University of West Georgia despite reading on a 5th grade level and writing on as low as a 3rd grade level; I have published two books (The Power of Dyslexic Thinking and For the Children) on my journey with dyslexia; I have worked with some of the most successful businessmen in the world, who happen to be dyslexic (will blog later about them); and I have had an MEG scan done on my brain (again, I will post the results in an up-and-coming blog) to show how my dyslexic brain works. Spoiler alert: it does work.

Let's face it; I know some stuff worth sharing about the power of dyslexic thinking. I just do not know who this could be more painful for, me the DYSLEXIC WRITER or you the unsuspecting reader. However this turns out, just know that I have committed to turning out what I hope will be a legible, informative blog every week or so, with the goal of helping anyone struggling with learning challenges, whether it be struggling personally or helping others on this challenging journey.

Also, in true "successful" dyslexic fashion, I have asked a host of people to help me make this less painful for you, the reader. A special thanks to my brother, Lon Langston, quite the wordsmith, my neighbor and local high school counselor Mike Kulp, my close friend and University of Georgia professor Mike Beck, and my personal editor on my second book, The Power of Dyslexic Thinking, Kathy Williams, for helping me write and edit this blog. Thank you all, and I will do my best to spread the love evenly across the board to lessen your volunteer workload.

For everyone else out there willing to defy the laws of logic to read what a DYSLEXIC WRITER is blogging about, please subscribe to my blog Power of Dyslexic Thinking, care of Psychology Today Online.

We will talk again soon.