February 21 , 2016

February 21 , 2016

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader, 

In Beyond Freedom and Dignity (1971, p. 207) Skinner writes “The human species has probably not undergone much genetic change in recorded time. We only have to go back a thousand generations to reach the artists of the caves of Lascaux.” It wasn’t until about that time (17,000 before present) that our vocal cords are believed to have come under functional control of our environment.  These Upper Paleolithic works of art which depict primarily large animals and typical local and contemporary fauna that corresponds with the fossil record were found in 1940.  It is believed these depictions of hunting scenes and animals led to the development of language. 

Preceded by eons of time in which humans were only capable of producing and responding to sound, the development of language is a relatively recent event in evolutionary history.  However, “We have seen what happens when a child grows up in an impoverished environment (p. 207); language couldn’t occur if our environment didn’t stimulate us to have it.” Thus, unless autism is viewed as a contingency-based disorder of verbal behavior, we have no options of treating it. What is missing in the environment of the autistic due to which language learning doesn’t occur? We know unequivocally that improvements can be made by making a behavioral analysis. 

By tracing back, identifying and manipulating the environmental variables of which autistic behavior is a function, we can increase a person’s verbal behavior and decrease the maladaptive behavior which happens instead.  Although we have behaviorism to back up such interventions, what is still missing is an understanding of the autistic’s response to the sound of the person who teaches him or her. 

Evolutionary speaking only one of two responses are possible: either the child responds to threat or it responds to safety. In other words, there occurs Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB), in which the speaker effects the listener with an appetitive contingency or Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB), in which the speaker effects the listener with an aversive contingency.  The high rates of NVB and the low rates of SVB of the parents and the teachers are hypothesized to cause and maintain autistic behavior!  Conversely, an increase of SVB and a decrease of NVB is believed to increase language acquisition.  Verbal reports of those who work with autistic children consistently validated this view.