Every parent wants the best for their child, but when your child learns, grows, or experiences the world a little differently, traditional therapy and approaches don’t always fit. You want support that meets your child where they are and helps them navigate towards more independence in ways that work for them.
Dr. Dana saw a gap in traditional services and set out to do things differently — creating a new way for neurodivergent children to gain skills and independence..
Keep reading to discover Dana’s story and how her vision and innovation is changing the way families experience traditional ABA and speech services.
Before Optimal Beginnings: Dr. Dana’s Journey to ABA
Dr. Dana Visalli-Gold fell into the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) almost by chance.
After graduating with a BA in Psychology from George Washington University in 1998, she faced an ultimatum from her dad: get a job, go back to school, or come home. With the job market offering few opportunities for a psychology graduate in the mid-90s (and number three not being an option), she chose to continue her education.
Dana returned to school and earned a Master’s in Education and Human Development from GW, focusing on students with emotional and behavioral disabilities. She found the experience enlightening,discovering a community of wonderfully loving kids struggling with anger, trauma, abuse, food insecurity, and beyond.
From there, she went on to win a grant from Prince George’s County Public Schools that paid for her tuition while she taught in a self-contained classroom alongside an experienced teacher and a teaching partner from her program. She loved every second of it and gained invaluable hands-on experience.
Discovering A Passion for ABA
After completing the program, she took a position with DCPS and found that working for the school system was both rewarding and challenging. While she loved her students and the work, the interpersonal experiences with the adults in the school were some of the hardest she had ever faced.
In 2000, she moved to New York City, but was not willing to work for the NYC Board of Education if the environment was as difficult as DCPS.
Instead, she discovered ABA and fell in love with it. It made perfect sense to her. She enjoyed working directly with children in their natural home environments. She knew it was what she was meant to do.
Over the next four years at Columbia University, Dana earned two additional Master’s degrees and a PhD in Applied Psychology, concentrating in behavior analysis, and curriculum and instruction. After completing her studies, she returned to Washington, D.C., and began working full-time in ABA, setting the steppings stones for the creation of Optimal Beginnings one-by-one.
Dana’s Vision For Brighter Futures for Families
Dana has always been driven by a simple but powerful idea: families deserve support that truly fits into their daily lives, helping children grow with independence and confidence. Her vision on how to approach this began with seeing firsthand the challenges families faced and the limitations of traditional ABA services.
Where Dana Saw Gaps in Traditional ABA Services
Early in her career, Dana worked at Benjamin Foulois Traditional Academy, where she met a child who had been dealt some of the hardest hands in life: from foster care and family instability to food insecurity. While he was extremely smart, he also had zero impulse control, and was often only noticed when he was acting out.
Dana formed a special bond with him by focusing on his positive behaviors, giving attention when he succeeded rather than when he struggled. This approach helped him develop new skills and self-control, showing Dana the power of individualized, intentional support. This experience reinforced that working directly with children in meaningful, real-world ways was her calling.
Through her work, Dana also noticed other key gaps in how families were supported under traditional ABA models:
- Parents were responsible for paying, planning, and scheduling all treatment.
- Families had to manage communication across multiple providers.
- The standard BCBA model only allowed clinicians to see clients every 3–5 weeks, limiting consistency and effectiveness.
Seeing these challenges, Dana wanted to take full responsibility for parents, including coordinating care, giving families consistent support, and ensuring therapy fit naturally into daily life.
The Birth of Optimal Beginnings
All of these experiences led Dr. Dana to start something different. In 2007, she founded Optimal Beginnings, initially serving as an in-home and in-community provider.
By 2015, OB opened its first clinic in Bethesda, expanding offerings to include traditional one-on-one therapy and social skills groups. That’s when the ideation and innovation for integrated services began. Dana and her team realized their services weren’t promoting as much independence as they could and were still too adult-led.
The OB Difference – An Integrated Service for Neurodivergent Children
This realization led to the creation of OB’s Integrated Services Model, which goes beyond traditional ABA by combining therapy with real-life, independence-building activities. Rather than adult-led sessions that isolate skills from daily experiences, OB’s model:
- Infuses related services and natural independence building activities into one service delivery model.
- Streamlines client outcomes and encourages generalization across environments.
- Creates a calmer, more structured experience for families, allowing more time for meaningful moments together.
Dr. Dana’s philosophy is simple: every skill a child learns should serve them in real life.
For example, when working with one family, Dr. Dana helped a child struggling with brushing his teeth by reworking his environment with his parents. Instead of having all of their bathroom materials all over the counter, she suggested only keeping his few things in one area or cup for him to easily recognize. That small shift eliminated having to look for his things, made him feel less overwhelmed, and gave him the brain power needed to remember the steps for brushing his teeth independently.
Through this teaching approach, Dr. Dana has transformed ABA into a family-centered experience that not only supports children’s growth but also empowers parents and caregivers, helping families thrive in everyday life.
Growing Together Beyond The Clinic
Dr. Dana knows that supporting children doesn’t stop when a session ends. That’s why she’s created additional resources to empower parents as the true heroes of their child’s growth:
- Parent Facebook Group: Optimal Beginnings has created the From Chaos to Calm:OB Parent Network, a Facebook group community where families can connect, share wins, and find guidance for daily parenting challenges.
- Ask Dr. Dana: Parents can also follow the Ask Dr. Dana profile on Instagram for her direct, expert advice on specific questions or obstacles.
- The Calming the Chaos Blueprint: This free resource is designed to help parents bring structure, calm, and confidence into everyday routines.
Discover Dana’s Approach for Your Family
Dr. Dana’s philosophy is simple: every skill a child learns should serve them in real life.
Her work is grounded in decades of study, research, and hands-on experience with children and families. But beyond her extensive education, it’s her deep understanding of how children live and learn in their everyday environments that truly sets her — and Optimal Beginnings — apart, helping families thrive in real, meaningful ways.
To learn more about Optimal Beginnings and how Dr. Dana and our team can support your family, visit our website and fill out the intake form to get started today.