Dr. Mary Barbera is a Board Certified Analyst and advocate for Applied Behavior Analysis; she is also the mother to an autistic son. Her website is dedicated to sharing information on ABA each month by providing a plethora of helpful resources and ABA therapy training tools for parents and caregivers of children on the spectrum. On her blog she wrote "Positive Growth Mindset Tips for Parents" to reflect on the ways in which having a positive outlook can benefit both you and your child. After speaking with parent coach Len Arcuri, she outlined their conversation about the effects of having a growth mindset as a parent and the ways in which it impacts the child and your parent-child relationship. Arcuri said in relation to mindset that it is "How parents develop what the problem is and how they feel about the journey." He believes that, "Every journey is unique, and it lasts as long as it needs to last, but the important part is how they feel while going about their day-to-day lives." The difference in a growth mindset and a fixed mindset is that one of them creates a victim mentality. Arcuri believes that with a positive mindset for autism, you never make mistakes because every "failure" is just an opportunity. Dr. Barbera and Arcuri agree that we can take this one step further and try to have an abundance mindset. This mindset encourages hope and resiliency as well as dedication to ensuring that each child reaches their highest potential. Arcuri feels that if parents are willing to do the internal work and strive for awareness, optimism, and growth for both them and their child, they can do so much more. There are a billion things in this world that we have little to no control over, however, we can control our responses and reactions to things and the way that we internalize the feelings we have toward a situation that may seemingly be "unfair." But there is brilliance and beauty in difference, but you must maintain a mindset that is dedicated to seeing that and make the world see it as well.
