November 17, 2013

November 17, 2013

Dear Reader, 

I write about this day, on November 18, because yesterday was the day of my seminar at the local library. By 1:05pm nobody had shown up. Then, at 1:10pm, a wonderful lady and her grandchild showed up. We started talking and everything began to flow. A few others joined and at one point we had as many as six persons talking together. My behavioral emphasis allowed me to draw lines I had not been able to draw before. The seminar was a great success. I described my academic journey and how it made me discover Constructional Behavioral Therapy, a small, unknown and almost dried up Dutch stream within Behaviorism, which perfectly dove-tales with my theory of Sound Verbal Behavior. It was founded by a lady, Beata Bakker-DePree, who lived in my old hometown. 

I am coming full circle not only with my personal exploration, but also with my insistence on recognition.  If I will ever receive a Ph.D. it will have to be in Behaviorism, but it would have to be  from an institution that allows me to present a spoken instead of a written dissertation. The success of SVB is so self-evident and consistent that the whole ordeal of getting a Ph.D. has completely lost its importance to me. Besides, I have no money, I must work two jobs to pay back my loans. There is no way it would be possible. Yet, as this writing obviously signifies, the thought is still there. That thought is about justice. I went back to school with a purpose. I wanted to study and gather scientific evidence for what I used to call the “Sounds Good Method” or "Listen While You Speak." 

I have found what I was looking for. I feel great satisfaction about yesterday’s results. The marvelous kid, the grandson of the lady, who was the first to come in, made some remarkable comments. His eyes were wide open and his voice was clear as a bell. He confronted me with not remembering his name, but after some rehearsing, stimulated by him, I got it. His name was Drake. He stated plainly that SVB made him feel at ease. Although he did not participate and was busy adjusting the computer for his grandmother, he made some supportive right-on-remarks now and then, which indicated that he was following exactly every word that was said. However, at school the poor kid was in trouble. They wanted to put him on medication because supposedly there was something wrong with him.

With this vibrant, intelligent and innocent child in the room, it was obvious to everyone how totally wrong the dispositional perspective is in addressing our problems. Supposedly, what was wrong was inside this boy’s head. Fact was, however, for all to see, that there was absolutely nothing wrong with him, but there was definitely something wrong with the way in which people interacted with him at his school. How could he be so calm, so gentle, so talkative, so understanding, so alert and so bright in a seminar of SVB? He stated “SVB is how we should all talk.” It was apparent to this kid and his grandmother that in a SVB environment we can be ourselves. Blaming the individual and closing our eyes for environmental variables that cause behavior is based on Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB).