Directory

Biography

Hello there! I am Dr. Carrie Alvarado, an alumnus of the first cohort of students to enroll for the PhD in Infant and Early Childhood Development, with an emphasis on mental health and developmental differences, through ICDL Graduate School and then Fielding Graduate University. I am an occupational therapist who is an Expert DIR/Floortime® and Pediatric Autism Communication Therapy accredited clinician. I teach the Human Development course, once taught by Stanley Greenspan, MD, as well as the Individual Differences in Psychopathology course. My approach to teaching is multimodal, with a strong emphasis on infusion of case examples, adult reflective learning and material engagement through the protégé effect. I am available to serve as a Faculty Reader or as Dissertation Chair.

Outside of my time at Fielding, I serve as the Chief Operating Officer and Clinical Director for Autism Community Network, a non-profit diagnostic and peri-diagnostic support center for families in San Antonio, Texas. I am the creator and director of the Earliest Connections Clinic, a diagnostic program geared toward identification and intervention for infants and toddlers with an increased probability of autism. I lead the DIRFloortime and PACT (Pediatric Autism Communication Therapy) therapy/teletherapy programs, intensive, short-term therapeutic supports empowering families impacted by autism through dyadic coaching.

In addition, I serve as the Lead United States Associate for PACT UK and the lead of their Neurodiversity Affirming Practice workgroup. I am Assistant Faculty for Profectum Foundation and Adjunct Faculty teaching a Foundations of Floortime DIR course at UTHealth in San Antonio. My primary research interests include sensoriaffective integration, reflective video feedback, reflective adult learning, emotional praxis in play, neurodiversity-affirming care and parent-mediated autism interventions.