S: Umm . . . (looks up and left).
A: (Laughs) You won't find it up there.
S: Huh?
A: Never mind.
S: Oh . . . Okay . . . Ummm ... a time when I was talking to myself about what was going on around me . . . (eyes move down and left).
A: (Laughs, reaches down and squeezes knee— ∮2Ke) You were doing it just now.
S: I was? . . . Oh . . . (Laughs) . . . Well, I thought of another time too.
A: Okay ... Good . .. What is that like.... can you comment explicitly to yourself (slows voice tempo— ∮2Aet,d) on what I'm doing right now? (A makes a series of gestures and movements with one hand, squeezes S's knee with the other— ∮2Ke) . . . All right . . . (releases anchor) . . . Now . . . has there ever been a time when you were thinking about something and you had to get in touch with your feelings and check it out (deepens tonality— ∮3Aet,d) for yourself?
S: Mmmm . . . (eyes move down and right) . . UhHuh . . . Sort of . . .
A: (Beginning to squeeze S's shoulder) . . . Exaggerate it then . . . get in touch with those feelings and keep checking it out (deepens tonality— ∮3Aet,d, squeezes S's shoulder— ∮3Ke) until you are really sure.
S: (Eyes and head down and right) . . Yeh . . . (nods) . . . Okay . . . (breath shifts to stomach.)
A: (Releases anchor) Wonderful. . . . Very good . . . Now I'd like to try something out. . . You've been wanting to learn accessing cues haven't you?
S: (Nods vigorously) Oh yes.
A: All right . . . Do you know the generalizations pretty well? Do you know what the eye movements mean?
S: Sort of . . . (shakes his head "no" unconsciously).
A: (Laughs) Your unconscious mind doesn't seem to think so.
S: What?
A: You were just now shaking your head "no."
S: Oh ... (smiles) ... You're right... I guess I was shaking it "no."
A: Well let's start there, then . . . (draws an eye movement chart on the blackboard) . . . Now ... I want you to look at this chart so that you can see very clearly (A raises his tonality— ∮1Ae, and squeezes S's forearm— ∮1Ke) each of the eye positions and what they indicate . . . and as you look from position to position I want you to comment explicitly to yourself (releases S's forearm and squeezes S's knee— ∮ 2Ke, slows tempo of voice when giving the instruction— ∮ 2Ae) about where each position is and what it means . . . and as you do this I want you to then get in touch with your feelings and check out (A releases S's knee and squeezes S's shoulder— ∮ 3Ke, deepens voice tonality— ∮ 3Ae) how good of a handle you have on identifying each of these positions . . . and keep looking very clearly (raises voice tone— ∮1 Ae, releases shoulder and squeezes forearm— ∮1Ke) at each position . . . commenting explicitly to yourself (releases forearm and squeezes knee— ∮2Ke, slows voice tempo— ∮ 2Ae) about what each position means . . . and keep getting in touch with your feelings and checking it out (releases knee and squeezes shoulder— ∮3Ke, deepens tonality— ∮ 3Ae) until you feel that you've got a grasp of the meanings of the eye skating patterns .. . and when you do I want you to signal me by lifting this finger (indicates right forefinger) ... (A sequences the kinesthetic anchors once more without the accompanying visual anchors and then stops all anchoring of S to test to make sure the strategy will continue itself.)
S: (S studies the blackboard for about five minutes and then his forefinger begins to raise.)
A: Okay . . . Good . . . Now here's the next step ... I want you to look at me . . . and I'm going to move my eyes around to a number of different positions . . . and I want you to watch me so that you can see very clearly (raises voice pitch— ∮1 Ae does not apply kinesthetic anchors) each position that I move my eyes to ... and as you see them I want you to comment explicitly to yourself (slows voice tempo— ∮2Ae) about which positions I'm accessing . . . and get in touch with your feeling and check out (deepens tonality- ∮ 3Ae) how good your grasp of them is . . . until you feel that you can not only see each position and know what it means but so you can see a whole sequence . . . and when you feel that you can do that I want you to allow your right hand to raise . . . (Note: A only anchors S through the strategy sequence once to test to make sure the strategy will access and perpetuate itself.)
S: (Watches A's eye movements for a few minutes and then raises his hand) . . . Okay . . .
A: Good . . . How is it working?
S: Fantastic . . . I've never felt so confident about any of this before.
A: Great . . . Now I'd like to test the effectiveness of your new learning strategy by running through a bunch of eye movement sequences and then have you tell me which sequence I just did . . . Okay . . . Begin . . .
S is able to follow each of the sequences the author presents. The strategy is then tested again by having S observe two other people from group interact until he is able to recount to the author the eye movement sequences of both people. He then gives S an anchor to access the strategy that S can initiate himself — that of S reaching over and squeezing his own forearm.
We can diagram the process of extracting and sequencing unrelated strategy steps in the following way:
6.2 Rehearsal
Rehearsal is a more operant method of conditioning or installing a strategy (as opposed to "anchoring" which more closely parallels classical or Pavlovian methods of conditioning). In the rehearsal process the individual practices or rehearses each representational step in the strategy until it becomes available as a spontaneous intact program. This process essentially involves the development of self-established anchors for strategy sequences.
6.21 Rehearsing Strategy Steps.
The most basic method of rehearsal would be that in which the programmer instructs the client in practicing making the transition through each step in the strategy as the programmer plugs in a number of different contents. This, of course, was a large part of what took place in the transcript.
Many times it won't take more than a few minutes of rehearsal to install a new strategy. Once one of the authors conducting an out-of-town workshop and was staying at the home of the workshop sponsor. While spending a quiet evening at the sponsor's home the author observed the sponsor's wife sitting with her second grade daughter and holding up flash cards with words and sentences on them for the girl to read and then spell. The daughter was obviously doing very poorly and consistently mixed up the orders of the words as she read and spelled. Taking an interest, the author asked the mother how her daughter was doing in school. Not surprisingly, the mother shook her head and admitted that her daughter was doing poorly, especially in reading. The daughter was constantly mixing up and reversing the orders of words, a condition that a specialist had diagnosed as dyslexic.