Alison "Ali" Villalobos

Alison (Ali) Villalobos, OTD, OTR/L earned her Master’s and Doctorate of Occupational Therapy from the University of Southern California in 2013 and 2014. Before that, she got her Bachelor’s in Cognitive Science with an emphasis on Child Development at Vassar College and taught at Vassar’s laboratory preschool for 3 years. She has moved back and forth between California and the East Coast several times, but has now settled in Silver Spring with her husband, Luke, and dog, Wilby. She spends her free time rock climbing, doing yoga, hiking, cooking, birdwatching, and more recently, gardening. 

 

Ali enjoys working with all ages, from toddlers to teens, on skills such as sensory integration and regulation, motor planning, gross and fine motor development, feeding, and social/emotional skills. She has worked in a wide variety of settings, including in sensory gyms, in the schools, at playgrounds, at a rock-climbing gym, at a horse ranch, and virtually in their homes.  Ali has completed a variety of trainings/ certifications, including in Sensory Integration, DIR/Floortime, SOS Feeding Therapy, Hippotherapy, and Integrated Listening Systems (iLs). She has also participated in standardization research for two sensory assessment tools: Adult/Adolescent Sensory History (A/ASH) and Sensory Processing 3-Dimensions (SP3D). She loves working as an occupational therapist because she loves helping kids learn and grow in their skills, independence, and confidence – all through play and meaningful relationships.