January 18, 2016

January 18, 2016

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader,

It is often stated that our speech is impaired because presumably we are not listening to each other. I think the exact opposite is the case:  speech is impaired because we are not listening to ourselves.  Voices of others cannot become conditioned reinforcers for attending to what is  said as long as our own voice has not been listened to and validated. 

Why would someone want to listen to you if you are not listening to him or to her? Besides, we are biologically inclined to listen to those who listen to us. We would not survive if we would listen to those who are not listening to us. Those who are not listening to us threaten us and are perceived as being against us. When autistic children don’t respond to their parent’s vocal instructions, they are said to lack basic listener literacy. The reason why this occurs has not yet been fully considered. 

Whenever the parent speaks with Voice I, he or she has an aversive effect on the child. The child responds to Voice I with avoidance or escape behavior. If, on the other hand, the parent speaks long enough with Voice II, the child will manifest approach behavior and become attentive to learning. Thus, Voice I increases autistic behavior, while Voice II decreases it. 

Since only Voice II can become a conditioned reinforcer for attending, a listener emersion protocol to induce basic listener literacy needs to consist of Voice II commands. As long as there are Voice I commands, such commands reinforce already existing avoidance and escape behavioral patterns. Also, emersion of autistic children in the vocal demands of others cannot and will not bring their attention to how they sound when they themselves are calmly speaking.