DrBrandon Gamble

10/21/2025

On an event regarding Black men's health, specifically mental health, ABPsi will be represented via the Western Regional Representative. If you are in S. Cal during this time, please attend and/or encourage folks you know to attend.

05/29/2025

On service to the Association of Black Psychologists. Thanks to those who took the time to vote for me! I look forward to once again serving the Western Region of ABPsi and the board as whole! Keep me accountable to the values and ideals of ABPsi.

www.abpsi.org

09/13/2024

EDUCATORS & PARENTS: On dyslexia. The APA Monitor has come out with an article that is important to consider when developing programs for students of any age but especially for K-12. However, if you are thinking higher education, consider that many students are coming from systems that failed them and/or their family members, and reading is as large part of their liberation or oppression. This article breaks no ground in this area but those who believe in freedom can see the path in spite of the articles shortcomings in the area of Liberatory Psychology. Here is a statistic about Black boys, "75 percent of black California boys don’t meet state reading standards," according to Cal Matters. As a it is my research agenda is about Black students and their families, I ask what can be done it improve the reading skills and agency of Black boys?

My summary based on APA's Key Point is below:
There is no link between dyslexia and IQ (I would add, the another bad assumption made based on IQ). — This was an idea in the 1980s that one had to have a high IQ to suffer from dyslexia and therefore be diagnosed with the reading disorder. That 5% has strong language skills and an ability to distinguish between sounds such as “big” and “pig.” White students have more reading supports than non White students. Diagnosis remains a challenge because of lack of consensus on definitions, assessments, and research interpretations. Brain based research is trying to help. There is a proposal from Florida State to view Dyslexia with a spectrum of severity and that many causes can interact in a constellation of factors. There needs to be more research on the strengths of those with dyslexia.

Promising research showing the differences in dyslexic brains may lead to more objective testing and treatments. — Nearly 20% of people in the USA have dyslexia and this accounts for 90% of learning disabilities. Dyslexia impacts mental health according to the latest science (e.g., Social Anxiety, especially if ADHD is present), and long standing discussion about prisoners overrepresented with reading challenges. From a social-emotional perspective, it helps to give children with dyslexia a sense of control and self-worth.

With early and effective interventions—and absent any other disability—all children can learn to read (I also add an supportive environment with realistic expectations helps too, the article says as much). — Only about 5% of children learn to read with little support. Mentoring programs that pair middle school students with known disabilities such as ADHD and dyslexia with elementary school students has been promising. Structured reading programs that emphasize resilience, persistence, and self-esteem can set children up for success.

Persistent misunderstandings about reading struggles have impeded progress in diagnosis and treatment.

09/06/2024

On Black liberation for all Black people. Don Lee wrote in 1971, "Our problem is not that we don’t realize that we have a problem: our problem is that we don’t realize we all have the same problem."

08/30/2024

On William Cross's Black Identity Viewed from a Barber's Chair: Nigrescence and Eudaimonia. The best book I have read in two decades. That last chapter where he destroys the "cultural deprivation" myth of E.F. Frazier is powerful. Black people, especially Black Americans are more than enslavement, sharecropping, mass incarceration, etc. Dr. Cross always brings the empiricism and humanistic framing that is needed in today's work.

Black Identity Viewed from a Barber's Chair: Nigrescence and Eudaimonia

08/27/2024

On a publication a long time in the making. I am very appreciative of JAAME Editor, Dr. Derrick R. Brooms for working with me on this one. It was not easy but we brought it home. Thanks to those who have provided a space of inspiration to share our stories. This is the link. https://jaamejournal.scholasticahq.com/article/94858-parents-perceptions-of-their-college-educated-black-sons-attributions-of-success-and-advice-for-parents

08/06/2024

On Black Identity: "We reasoned... that to be human is to by definition is to be complex, and thus an accurate analysis of Black psychological functioning would be multidimensional..." -- Dr. William Cross

05/08/2024

On the late Fred Hampton. I was thinking about him and revolution. Two quotes of his were on my mind. The first was:

"If you ever think about me, and you ain't gonna do no revolutionary act, forget about me. I don't want myself on your mind if you're not going to work for the people."

The second is in response to the question, "where do you see yourself in 3 years?"

"We might not be back. I might be in jail. I might be anywhere. But when I leave, you'll remember I said, with the last words on my lips, that I am a revolutionary. And you're going to have to keep on saying that. You're going to have to say that I am a proletariat; I am the people."

02/29/2024

On a Poem by Langston Hughes

I, Too -

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.

Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed—

I, too, am America.