We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Archana Dhurka a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Archana , thanks for joining us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

As you would expect, coming from India into the USA, Bharat and I were both computer engineers working in IT. Our first son, Ankush, was born in 1999. As first-time parents, we didn’t know much about children and their milestones. Ankush developed typically the first year and at about 2 years, we put him in a Montessori (like many of our friends), and when I would pick him from school, he would always be in a time out area because he didn’t listen to the teacher. He started losing skills, stopped using words functionally and preferred to play by himself. We took him to the neurologist who diagnosed with Autism. I was expecting a prescription to go along with it and that is how ignorant I was. We were a typical family of 4 with no knowledge of Autism. I started reading up about Autism and realized that it is a marathon and not a sprint. We got him started on ABA therapy and he started making progress. Fast forward, several years, I realized I wanted to give back to the community. I had learned a lot about ABA since I was running his home program so I started working with a family as their ABA therapist for their child. They really liked me and referred more families to me. I realized I was good at this and decided to go back to school to get more training. I started my course work at UNT and did more field-work and got better. I passed my Board exam in 2014.

Defining Moment: Through doing in-home ABA therapy for the families, I saw the need for something more. I decided to open my own clinic.
Since kids were doing so well, I wanted to keep the setting of a home so ABC was started in a house. Within a few years, ABC out grew the small house and moved to a bigger location. I wanted to teach the kids everything Ankush had missed from therapy- life skills, leisure skills and going about in the community. We took field trips to the restaurant and movies. We teach the kids functional communication, gross motor, fine-motor and play skills. We also help transition kids to mainstream schools or private schools. We help families in transition meetings at public schools to get the best placement. We have successfully transitioned kids to schools.

Ankush is now 22 years old and is an independent young man who works at a kitchen in a restaurant 6 days a week for 3 hours/day. ABC is about 8 years old now and in a bigger location. I also sit on the board of National Autism Association of North Texas and started a support group called Warrior Moms & Dads that has over 2000 parents. I feel very satisfied giving back to the community.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a Board-certified Behavior Analyst and my husband and I own a clinic called All Behaviors Considered. We treat kids with Autism using Applied Behavior Analysis Therapy. We teach the kids functional communication, gross motor, fine-motor and play skills. We also help transition kids to mainstream schools or private schools. We help families in transition meetings at public schools to get the best placement. We have successfully transitioned kids to schools. I am proud to give back to the special-needs community

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Being a parent to a child that has Autism has helped me be better at my job. I use my own experience to help other families that are struggling and in denial with the Autism Diagnosis.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Once when Ankush was just 10, everyone else was still asleep on Labor Day & he had a hankering for some Doritos. He used a chair and opened the high latch on the front door and walked over to the Quik Trip. Till this day, no one has figured out how he crossed the 3-lane main road to get to his destination. The nice man at Quik Trip called the cops when he realized he was alone & without shoes. The cops asked him my phone number and my name and he just wrote down “mom”. When we reached the gas station after an hour, I hugged him and told myself that I would teach him his phone number and all his personal information and would practice everyday! Now, Ankush is 22 years old and he locks all the doors at our home and sets the security alarm!