We recently connected with Barbara Rodriguez and have shared our conversation below.

Barbara, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Who is your hero and why? What lessons have you learned from them and how have they influenced your journey?

When I think about a hero, I imagine a person with great influence and power. Someone capable of shifting my way of seeing life to make me a better person. There are 2 beautiful people in my life that I have the pleasure of calling my heroes. In a short time, they shifted my way of seeing life and they made me a better person. Because of them, today I am a better mom, wife, daughter, friend, and human being. They are my kids. Our journey started in 2021 when my youngest, my son, was diagnosed with Autism at 18 months. Our kid was vulnerable, and our family became vulnerable. Raising a kid with special needs requires so much more. More patience, more understanding, more acceptance, long hours of researching and learning, many hours of therapy every week, letting go of expectations, picking your battles with society and their expectations of how a child should learn and behave and how you should fulfill your role as a parent, among others. Caring for my kids during very vulnerable times changed my perspective about how I see life. I see others, regardless of their struggles and battles, with much more understanding and empathy. My son taught me and continues teaching me every day how to see the world through his eyes, and the view is pretty amazing. Through this new set of lenses, I see so much beauty, empathy, kindness, innocence, resilience, and love. My daughter taught me a whole new level of adaptability and resilience. At her short age, and during difficult times, she found ways to adapt to our “new way” of navigating life as a family. My kids showed me kindness, understanding, and resilience in a completely different dimension. Amid uncertainty and daily challenges, I now see opportunity. I learned to unlearn the set expectations about how we should see the world. They made me a better person and I have the pleasure of calling them my heroes.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Barbara Rodriguez. I am a wife, a mom, a child of God, a chemical engineer, a parent advocate, and the owner of Able Autism Therapy Services – Snellville Location. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico and currently live in Georgia with my beautiful family. Able Autism Therapy Services – Snellville Location is a Franchisee for Able Autism Therapy Services LLC, a well-recognized and reliable ABA therapy provider for children diagnosed with Autism aged 18 years and below. With our clinic based in Snellville, Georgia, we are ready to serve our community. A community we see and understand from first-hand experience.
Our journey in the Autism world started with the diagnosis of our son in 2021. We are the parents of a beautiful boy on the spectrum with amazing abilities that also come along with daily challenges and opportunities. Amid grieving and uncertainty, we looked for as many resources as possible to help our kid. I became heavily involved in the autism world. I started attending workshops, educational conferences, and support groups to gain knowledge and skills that could help me help my child. I became a member of the board and/or parent council for different associations supporting autism (The GAPS Society, FOCUS, ABEJAS) and collaborated with researchers on autism projects. I was sure I wanted to be part of the solution and that I wanted to provide support to other families like us. The thought of opening a therapy clinic came to mind multiple times. The need for services was and continues to be surreal. Special needs parents spend long hours looking for resources and therapy services, and the wait to start services can take up to several months. Meanwhile, our kids are losing valuable resources and support. With our background and experience in leadership, business administration, capital projects and budget management, and our personal journey with autism; opening a therapy clinic to help and serve our autism community was a dream come true. I shared my dream with 2 of my son’s therapists and the clinic owner at Buford Kids Spot. Deb Hughes, the owner of Buford Kids Spot, was so kind to meet me and my husband to share her experience and journey as a business owner. That day, our dream went from a thought to a tangible goal. She connected us with Idris Demirci, the founder and owner of Able Autism Therapy Services, LLC and Able Autism Therapy Services Franchise, LLC. After several discussions and meetings with Idris and his Team, my husband and I decided to become a franchisee of Able Autism Therapy Services. We are excited to share that our Snellville clinic will soon open doors to proudly serve our community. We are not just a provider; we are parents who live with autism every day at home and who know from first-hand experience what families like us go through. In our clinic we will be providing primarily ABA therapy, supplemented with speech and occupational therapy. We have a big passion for helping other kids and families like us, and we will serve our community with the same excellence and quality we expect our family to be served. To all our Hispanic families out there, we speak Spanish!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

A year after my son’s autism diagnosis I decided to quit my job to become a caregiver and stay at home mom. After his diagnosis, I spent endless hours researching and looking for services. I also spent a lot of time waiting in therapy clinics, which made me realize there was a big need for resources and therapy services. Our kid and family benefited greatly from therapy interventions, and we became very passionate about helping other kids and families like us. Realizing the need for services and wanting to be part of the solution, my husband and I decided to explore the autism therapy business and became owners of an autism therapy clinic. My professional trajectory was pivoted from Engineer to Caregiver to Parent Advocate to Business Owner.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Over the last 4 years, I have had to unlearn many things. Raising a kid with special needs sets you apart from what society calls “the norm”. I learned to unlearn “the norm” because it doesn’t exist. I learned to unlearn how society sees progress and success. Progress is progress regardless of quantity, and success has no specific definition. I learned to unlearn society’s expectations of how a child should learn and behave and how I should fulfill my role as a parent. Learning differently is still learning, and from my lenses, different looks amazing. I learned to meet my kid where he is before trying to set expectations. I have also learned that his behavior in certain circumstances does not define who he is nor define my role as his mother. I learned to unlearn that timelines and milestones don’t always go hand to hand and that small victories are a big deal. I could go on and on with my unlearning process. Unlearning is the ability to break old patterns, adapt, rethink, change, and ultimately survive.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ableaba.com/aba-therapy-locations/snellville
• Instagram: able_autism_therapy_snellville
• Facebook: Able Autism Therapy Services – Snellville Location