Michelle Kaplan, LMSW

Clinical Social Worker, ADHD and Disruptive Behavior Disorders Center, Selective Mutism Service, Child Mind Institute

Michelle S. Kaplan, LMSW, is a clinical social worker specializing in the evaluation and treatment of ADHD, disruptive behavior disorders, Selective Mutism, and other anxiety and mood disorders in children and adolescents. She is committed to ensuring that children and their families receive evidence-based treatment that is individualized to their unique needs and goals. She has expertise in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT), parent management training (PMT), and interpersonal psychotherapy for adolescents (IPT-A). Ms. Kaplan has particular interest in real-time coaching of parents and teachers to teach them skills to better manage disruptive and anxious behaviors. Ms. Kaplan also has extensive experience in providing school-based consultation, and strongly believes that collaboration with teachers and outside providers is essential to successful treatment.

Ms. Kaplan is passionate about integrating clinical practice and research to improve evaluation and treatment methods across the clinic. She has worked with the research team to develop studies that actively explore healthy brain development to better understand childhood psychiatric and learning disorders. Additionally, Ms. Kaplan has administered comprehensive diagnostic evaluations and cognitive assessments for numerous neuroimaging studies through her work at the Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research.

Ms. Kaplan is a graduate of the Silver School of Social Work at New York University. During her graduate studies, she completed social work field placements in preventive family counseling, and in an outpatient child and adolescent mental health clinic. Ms. Kaplan has worked in community mental health centers and at several therapeutic summer programs for children with psychiatric and learning disorders. She has experience with organizations such as the Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service’s Bedford Stuyvesant Family Center, the Big Apple Day Program, and Ramapo for Children, a residential summer program for children with special needs.

Prior to beginning her graduate studies in social work, Michelle received an undergraduate degree in Psychology from Colgate University, and spent two years working for the Clinical and Research Program in Pediatric Psychopharmacology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She is a member of the National Association of Social Workers, Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, and the Selective Mutism Association.