January 28, 2016

January 28, 2016

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader, 

If you were a student in the class where I yesterday did a presentation, you would have experienced the sound of my voice. This can’t be accomplished with written words, but it can still be described. I spoke to this group of students as I had first spoken with their teacher. In our brief conversation, she had become so excited and intrigued that she had invited me. The class was well-prepared and when I arrived all her students were present. Initially she had said my presentation could last about twenty minutes to half an hour, but the interaction with her class went so well that she signaled me to continue and complete the whole hour. 

I had made a hand-out which was visible on the screen and I read part of what I said from what I had already written. This gave me a focus which made my presentation more powerful. I could see, hear and feel that everyone was really impressed. The questions that were raised and the remarks that were made were all meaningful and making things even more clear. As I explained the difference between Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) and Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) the students became more involved. Since I had written down the main points, the words I spoke came out in an organized, succinct and powerful manner. 

I had sent her the hand-out in an email attachment, but for some reason she wasn’t able to open it.  Because of this I pulled up the email and we read it together from the big screen. Perhaps this was a lucky coincidence and things might have been very different if students would have had the hand-out in their hands. They were reading from the screen with me and when they were asking questions and making remarks they rephrased what they read on the screen. Also, the fact that this teacher allowed me to keep going for the entire duration of her class gave me a sense of confidence and approval. I just received an email from her in which she stated that she had been thinking about these matters her entire life and that my analysis had made things clear to her which had never been clear to her before.  She thanked me and stated that I had put into words an important process which could only be understood in the behavioristic way in which I had explained it.