Joyce S Pickering

Dr. Joyce S. Pickering, a 40-year Montessorian, speech and hearing pathologist, and learning disabilities specialist who has devoted her life to addressing the needs of students with learning differences.

Currently, Joyce is Executive Director Emerita of Shelton School & Evaluation Center in Dallas, Texas, the world’s largest independent school for intelligent children with learning differences.

Under Joyce’s tenure as executive director (1990 – 2010), Shelton saw significant growth and development, including an expansion of the application of the Montessori philosophy and practice and, in 2009, the launching of Shelton Montessori Teacher Education. Joyce also oversaw the creation of an outreach center that annually responds to more than 27,000 requests for information and resources and the development of a unique collaboration between Shelton, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and The University of Texas Dallas’s Center for Brain Health.

Joyce is the 2013 Living Legacy Recipient for American Montessori Society (AMS) as well as President of AMS Board of Directors and an active member of several AMS committees. MACTE (Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education) awarded the Wisdom of the Elders award to Joyce in 2015. She is also an adjunct professor at Dallas Baptist University, a clinical assistant professor at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and a committee member for accreditation of the International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council (IMSLEC). Joyce travels the world to present classes and keynote speeches about Montessori education and how to meet the needs of learning-different students. Joyce is married to Dr. Robert Pickering, a former AMS president. She has five children and 13 grandchildren.

Joyce’s book, Montessori Strategies for Children with Learning Differences: The MACAR Model, was written with her friend Sylvia O. Richardson and was published by Parent Child Press in 2019. It is also sold on Amazon.

JOYCE S. PICKERING, HUM. D., M.A. SLP/CCC, CALT, QI, AMS/EC

Executive Director Emerita

Shelton School and Evaluation Center, Dallas, Texas

www.shelton.org