Joyce received her Handicapped Learners Endorsement, a Reading Endorsement, and a Master’s Degree in Education from Western Oregon University. She began her career as a teacher at an elementary school in Salem, Oregon. Later, she was a Special Education teacher in Lebanon, Oregon. She then held positions as a Reading Coach, and finally a Reading Specialist teacher.

Because so many students have trouble reading, and because so many teacher do not know how to help them, Joyce created and self-published a book entitled, Your Child CAN Read!, about teaching basic reading skills. Her book was used as a textbook at WOU and is currently being used by many teachers. Since there is a high demand for good decodable books, she wrote and illustrated 21 decodable books currently being used by many teachers.

In view of the fact that her students always made great growth in reading, she was frequently asked to do workshops. She was a guest speaker many times at WOU. As a member of the Superintendent’s Reading Corps, Joyce presented workshops on teaching reading at the Oregon Reading Summit. She did presentations for staff at elementary schools. In addition, she has presented workshops to special education teachers in Salem, Lebanon, and Albany, Oregon.