goQ's own Neil MacGregor on NHPR's "Word of Mouth

October is National Dyslexia Awareness Month

goQ VP for Learner Development, Neil MacGregor, will share his story about how he has succeeded despite, and also because of, his dyslexia. With Virginia Prescott, host of the nationally syndicated "Word of Mouth" on New Hampshire Public Radio he will speak this Thursday, October 27 at 12 pm EST. Neil and Virginia will also discuss how wordQ + speakQ help people of all ages overcome their challenges with Dyslexia and also they will unveil the upcoming goQ national campaign, ’Write! Now! Creating a Nation of Better Writers’.

Can't tune in on Thursday? Catch Neil's interview online at nhpr.org/wordofmouth

The number of Americans who struggle with writing is staggering. The National Commission on Writing reported that:

• Just over 80 percent of eighth- and twelfth-grade students are not proficient at writing
• About 75 percent of unemployed adults have reading or writing difficulties
• Low literacy's effects cost the U.S. $225 billion or more each year in: non-productivity in the workforce, crime, and loss of tax revenue due to unemployment
• More than 60 percent of all state and federal corrections inmates can barely read and write. "There are actually states in the US that build prisons based on how many people are illiterate." Dr. Lesley Morrow, President of the International Reading Association.

And one more stat from the Economist August 26,2004. It’s a 7-year-old study but read the article and you’ll see how it translates and is relevant to today (http://www.economist.com/node/3127844).

• “The team identified a clear and significant association between investments in human capital in each period and a country's subsequent growth and labour productivity. Specifically, a rise of 1% in literacy scores relative to the international average is associated with an eventual 2.5% relative rise in labour productivity and a 1.5% rise in GDP per head.”

All this despite the fact that the digital world/economy that we live in has placed a tremendous emphasis on a person’s ability to communicate through the written word.

It’s for these reasons that we are preparing to launch 'Write! Now! Creating a World of Better Writers’
Forbetterwriting.org

If you would like to get in contact with Neil directly, you can email him at neil@goqsoftware.com