Teach your kiddo to dream big with a vision board

Teach your kiddo to dream big with a vision board

In ABA therapy, we use visual supports, like images and short descriptive words, to help children with autism communicate their feelings, learn new skills, and follow routines that build confidence and peace of mind.

Vision boards are a type of visual support. They consist of a blank pin board or any type of poster board and items you can pin, paste, or secure to the board that depict your dreams and goals. Vision boards can be real or virtual. Making a real one, something you can touch and feel, is more of sensory experience many children with autism enjoy versus creating a vision board on the computer. But all kids with autism are wonderfully unique, so leave it up to your kiddo to decide.   

The vision part of a vision board is made up of images, words, and other items that are added to the board, creating a collage representing the goals your child wants to achieve. When  finished, a vision board should be inspirational, functional, and assuring all at the same time.

The key is letting your child create their own vision board. It’s best if you can prompt them with questions about their dreams and aspirations to get them thinking in the right direction. You can even make it a regular family activity that you do at the first of the year, the end of the year, or the start of a new school semester. The best part is you’re able to learn more about your amazing kiddo in the process, while teaching them to reach for their dreams – not just think about them!

Tips for making an effective vision board with your child

The activity of creating a vision board will encourage your child to explore and dream about what they want for their future, in both the short and long term. When kids know what they’re working toward, a vision board can increase their ability to achieve it.

There is no right or wrong way to create a vision board. However, there ways to enhance its effectiveness and your child’s success using one. These expert tips can help:

Tip #1 – Narrow the focus.

The future is a big place. Especially for a child. Help them narrow their focus to a specific set of goals and period of time, like a school semester or season of the year. 

Tip #2 – Keep it personal and fun.

Your child’s vision board should represent their unique personality, goals and aspirations. Let them have ownership of it so they’ll stick with it and build confidence.

Tip #3 – Include steps for reaching each goal.

A goal can seem impossible to a child. Make sure their vision board shows the small, achievable steps for reaching their goals and tracking their progress.

Tip #4 – Keep the vision board relevant.

Talk with your kiddo on a regular basis about their progress on their goals and if their vision board needs to be adjusted to meet changing needs or aspirations.  

Tip #5 – Celebrate success at every step.

Positive reinforcement is an important principle of ABA therapy. When your child successfully completes a step toward their goals, let them know how proud you are of them and encourage their continued progress.

Templates and inspiration for getting started

Getting started on a vision board starts with your child thinking and brainstorming about what they want to achieve and setting goals for themselves. Once that’s been decided, it’s all about bringing their vision for their future to life, using pictures from magazines and websites, inspirational words, stickers, markers, drawings, color, construction paper, mementos, glue, pins, and more.

One great option to the classic vision board made from scratch is to use a template that gives your kiddo a head start and guides them in exploring their dreams and goals for the future. Just search online and you can have your pick of templates. Pinterest and Etsy are two of our favorite sites for resources and ideas.

Your child's ABA therapist can help, too!

Ask your child’s ABA therapist about goals that will be beneficial for your child. They’re already working on specific skills with your child and have a plan in place to help your child reach their full potential.

Also, be sure to tell the ABA therapist about the goals on your child’s vision board, so they can work in tandem with your efforts at home to help your child meet those goals and achieve their dreams for the future.

Children can and should start ABA therapy as young as two years old. That’s why an early diagnosis is so important. Decades of research confirms that children who receive ABA therapy during their formative years before starting school achieve the best outcomes in their their development.

If your kiddo isn’t enrolled in ABA therapy yet, make it a priority. You can find the best providers in your area through the only accrediting body for ABA therapy – BHCOE.org.

The Behavior Exchange was the first ABA therapy provider in all of North Texas to receive the highest BHCOE accreditation possible, and we’re proud to serve families in and around Plano, Frisco, and Prosper. If you live in the area, contact us with all your questions about getting started and reaching your goals for your child and family.

Why put your dreams on hold?

Start today!
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Ashvina attended University of Bombay and graduated with a Bachelors of Commerce. She got her Montessori Diploma in 1985 and taught ever since. Ashvina came to TBE in January of 2016 as Admin Assistant. During the years she got the opportunity to learn and work in different departments such as HR, Finance, Office Manager and Executive Assistant. Last summer TBE bought billing in house and her current focus area is Revenue Cycle Management. She is detail oriented and enjoys working with people. Ashvina volunteers to deliver meals to seniors and local shelters on the weekend. She loves to spend time with her family and grandkids. Ashvina loves her job because she enjoys hearing different points of view, and she feels her contributions help fuel the direction of our company.

Working with children comes naturally to Angela. Her mom was a special education teacher for 30 years and often had Angela join her for Take Your Child to Work Day. And in high school, Angela spent every summer as the nanny for a little boy with an autism spectrum disorder. It was this experience where her passion for working with children with autism started to blossom.

From there, she went on to graduate from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Family Sciences. She learned about Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) in a non-normative development class and from that moment knew that ABA would be her life’s work.

Angela moved to the DFW area shortly after and began working at The Behavior Exchange as a therapist. She worked on her Master’s in Behavior Analysis at the same time. A year after graduating, she earned certification as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst.

Now, as a Clinical Director at The Behavior Exchange, she brings a life-long passion to her work, holding a special place in her heart for children with limited language skills and working closely with families to develop healthy sleep habits.

Danielle’s passion for working with families is deeply personal and from the heart. Her younger brother has an autism spectrum disorder, and through their journey as a family, she found her purpose in life as an advocate for individuals with special needs.

After graduating from the University of North Texas with a degree in Human Development and Family Studies, Danielle began volunteering at The Behavior Exchange. She saw passionate therapists, meaningful change for clients, and families with hope for the future. After a summer of volunteering, she officially joined the team as Director of Admissions and found her home with The Behavior Exchange family.

With her extensive experience working as a client advocate with insurance providers, Danielle perseveres to help individuals of all ages and abilities receive the services they need to reach their full potential. She feels truly honored by each and every family who entrusts The Behavior Exchange to be part of their journey and is committed to the organization’s core values, mission, and goal of being a beacon of hope for the community.

Adam has always had a passion for helping individuals of all ages thrive and reach their full potential. He’s also an enthusiastic musician, songwriter, leader, and devoted family man, who has been helping children and team members grow with The Behavior Exchange since 2010.

Prior to joining the team at The Behavior Exchange, Adam was a mortgage loan consultant and grad student, pursuing his master’s degree in Education at the University of North Texas. He graduated in 2013 and also earned a graduate academic certificate in Autism Intervention. The following year, after years as a Behavior Therapist and seeing first-hand the power of ABA and the meaningful impact it can have on children and their families, Adam became a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. He then commenced from the Stagen Leadership Academy after completing the Integral Leadership Program (ILP), a 52-week practice-based program designed to develop executives serious about transforming themselves, their teams, and their organizations.

Adam is truly grateful to be a part of a dynamic, inspiring and compassionate team, and he’s dedicated to bettering the lives of all children and their families through the delivery of the highest quality of ABA services, while supporting the amazing team at The Behavior Exchange.

Soraya is from South Africa and moved to Texas in 1996. She graduated from The University of Texas and pursued a career, at that time, in Education. Soraya taught at a Montessori school for a few years and then took on a leadership role.

During her time in the education system, Soraya realized her passion was to assist children with special needs. So she joined The Behavior Exchange as a therapist, transitioned into a supervisory role in 2017, and a year and a half later, was promoted to Clinical Operations Manager.

She quickly learned the ins and outs of ABA operations and scheduling and successfully collaborates across departments to ensure The Behavior Exchange continues to provide quality services to clients and their families. She’s thankful to be part of such an amazing organization and excited to see what the future holds.

You could say Walter’s career started when he spent hours as a young child drawing superheroes and coloring maps. This passion, along with extraordinary swimming skills, landed him a full swimming scholarship at Texas Christian University, where he graduated in 1997 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Graphics.

During the next 13 years, his design and art direction skills, conceptual-thinking abilities, and marketing-savvy know-how were honed at a few prestigious advertising and marketing agencies around the Dallas area. In the mid 2000s, he helped his wife Tammy Cline-Soza (founder and CEO of The Behavior Exchange) create a unique and concise brand for her new business. From logos and websites to uniforms, brand voice and visuals, Walter has been the main creative force for all things The Behavior Exchange.

Aside from giving birth to The Behavior Exchange brand, Walter is helping Tammy raise two amazing, beautiful children, River and Sierra. In his spare time (the two minutes he’s got per week), you can find Walter illustrating iconic landmarks of Dallas and Texas or looking around for this next open-water swim. Once he gets back in shape.

After 20 years of building The Behavior Exchange, literally from the ground up,
Tammy couldn’t be more proud of the team, culture, and organization that it has become.

As a family helping families, The Behavior Exchanges looks for opportunities that will make the biggest impact and produce life-changing outcomes – for clients, families, and even for team members. Tammy believes that if a team, a family, a community takes care of each other, the possibilities are endless and the relationships built along the way can make life more enriching and challenges easier to navigate. You could say her goal has been to build a kind of utopia full of support, love, and expertise that brings the best services possible to the community and ensures more families have access to those services.

Tammy and her family have dedicated their lives to the mission of The Behavior Exchange and continue to grow, learn, cultivate, challenge, support, and create better models for success. To that end, she is committed to her own leadership development and actively participates in advanced training, mentoring, and deep self-exploration on how to live out her purpose to love and support her family and help others reach their full potential. She takes her position very seriously and tries to serve as a channel for what the universe wants to come to fruition.

She also loves travel, gardening, being creative, MUSIC!, tennis, yoga, meditation, journaling, reading, being in nature, adventures, and more than anything, spending time with her husband Walter and their two beautiful children, River and Sierra.