Naomi Alcaine, PhD is a fully licensed clinical psychologist located in Ann Arbor, MI who provides services to children, adolescents, and adults.

Psychotherapy is provided for individual adults as well as children/adolescents and their families. When working with adults in therapy, Dr. Alcaine adopts an eclectic approach that incorporates techniques to deal with current challenges as well as increase understanding of how problematic patterns have developed. With children and teenagers, she is a therapist who emphasizes work with families as well, out of her belief that children and teens can blossom best with the help of strong and loving families. Her clients, whether kids or adults, tend to find her approachable and down-to-earth. Common reasons that adults or children might come to therapy include reducing depression, coping with anxiety disorders such as panic, worry, or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, improving relationships with others, coping with ADHD or ADD, or grief. Additionally, children may often see a therapist due to behavior problems such as defiance or argumentativeness with parents and/or teachers.

Neuropsychological testing is a specialized evaluation to determine if an individual has a learning disability, attention disorder, or other subtle cognitive issue that may impact personal behavior and well-being or academic performance. Through testing, Dr. Alcaine can provide a thorough profile of cognitive strengths and difficulties, as well as recommendations about how to best help.  Dr. Alcaine also specializes in determining whether academic difficulties are related to cognitive versus emotional difficulties, or some combination of the two.

A typical evaluation may assess:

Dr. Alcaine's test report and verbal feedback will:

Yes. College students with learning difficulties can benefit from accommodations such as extended testing time or access to notes; colleges require testing to document eligibility. Testing can help adults to determine treatment and learning strategies to help themselves succeed at work and home.

Only with your permission. It is very helpful, however, to be able to speak to school staff to gather information about your child’s behavior in school. Sometimes observing your child at school can also be a helpful part of determining the nature of the problem. If you wish, Dr. Alcaine can have a meeting with you and school staff together to explain the results and how to help your child succeed. 

Your explanation should relate to a problem that your child knows about, such as “trouble with math,” “problems following directions,” or “feeling worried.” Let them know that you’re trying to figure out how to help make things better. Young children should be reassured that Dr. Alcaine will not give any shots. Often kids find the testing interesting due to the game-like format.  

Dr. Alcaine provides consultation to families and schools, both within the context of  recently completed neuropsychological evaluations, as well as in the course of therapy. A child is best helped when all the adults in his or her life can be on the same page with each other. Dr. Alcaine can help with explaining test results, or with putting ideas for intervention into practice at home and school.

Dr. Alcaine also conducts social skills groups to help children improve their skills in making and keeping friends. Groups typically meet once weekly for an hour and are conducted in workshops of approximately 11-13 meetings, depending on the time of year. Parents are given feedback each group about what we are working on, as well as a more formal, individualized feedback at the end of each cycle (and more frequently upon request). Each group typically includes time to work on conversational skills, a structured group activity tailored to the needs of the particular children in the group, and a free play time to help kids work on social skills within the context of play. Social skills groups can help with the following issues: