Testimonials
Ashley - Woodbury
As parents we found Pederson Literacy services to be very beneficial and personalized to the way our daughter learns best. As a busy mom, I appreciated Joyce's organization, attention to detail, and engagement during each lesson. Joyce was able to get the most out of my daughter during their time together. She also kept me well informed with my daughter's progress after each lesson and educated me on effective ways to help my daughter outside of class. I would highly recommend Pederson Literacy to any parent whose child is struggling with literature fundamentals.
Heidi - Hudson
Joyce is both an expert in her field and a wonderful, compassionate teacher. Our son thrived under her tutelage and readily acquired the skills he needed to become an excellent reader and writer. Our entire family benefited from our time with Joyce. She guided us through the assessment process, provided in-depth feedback and advice to alleviate parental concerns, and most importantly provided our son with masterful instruction in a comfortable and fun setting. Perhaps the most influential statement I can make about the positive impact Joyce made in our lives is to mention that both of our younger children have frequently begged for their turn to "learn with Mrs. Pederson!
Becky - Scandia
Joyce's years of experience and knowledge working with dyslexia certainly helped in setting up a beginning plan of action for my daughter and setting long term goals. They began to work on letter sounds and linking those letter sounds together to form words and sentences. Reading sounded choppy at first, but with study time together and on her own, it began to flow. My daughter was making a shift from learning to read to actually reading to learn. It will never come easy for her, but with the intervention from Joyce and their hard work together, it will not be as hard for my daughter as it would've without Joyce's expertism.
Sandy - Houlton
Joyce tutored our son after his 5th grade school year. Testing alerted us that his reading skills were below the appropriate level. He was also having trouble with his writing skills. Joyce completed a diagnostic assessment to determine where he was having issues. Based on the assessment results, she created a work plan tailored to fit our son’s needs. After 6 months of working with Joyce, he demonstrated increased reading comprehension and writing skills. Recently he completed a Performance Series reading test given by the school and he scored in the high average range. We couldn’t be happier with the results of him working with Joyce! Our son is more confident in his reading ability which transfers to overall improved scholastic results in other areas of school. Joyce has the expertise that no one else has and she cares so much about her students and their success.
Amy & Mike - Woodbury
Thank you for your dedication and personal connection to our son. Over the past two years, your guidance and instruction has not only helped him significantly increase his reading scores and abilities, but as a surprise, his math skills flourished as his reading improved! Because of the great strides he has made in his academics, parent / teacher conferences have become an enjoyable experience and most importantly, we have seen his self esteem and self confidence soar. Academics aside, I cannot thank you enough for the personal connection you made with Alex. Adjusting to his new norm of not working with you weekly has not been easy. Our son views you more of an extended family member than just “Dr. Pederson”. For a parent, this is a tremendous compliment for your work and is a true reflection of who you are. Again, thank you for helping Alex dramatically improve his reading and overall academic results. You have played a large role in helping Alex build a solid foundation to ensure his future success.
Daniella - Lake Elmo
We decided to move our son to a different school system for high school. In middle school his Reading and English skills were showing significant deficits and he was scoring at a very low percentile. We wanted to address this problem and contacted Joyce. She performed a very thorough and comprehensive evaluation covering all aspects of the child. She was able to identify the specific areas that needed attention and developed a plan. Joyce and our son worked together diligently and with great effort, dedication and consistenty, she helped him develop the skills needed to have an excellent performance in high school and a very successful application to college. His standardized testing in reading improved dramatically, scoring above 90th percentile. Joyce has helped him become more confident and able to enjoy reading. We re very grateful and highly recommend Joyce.
Mary - Woodbury
Joyce tutored my son after his 9th grade year in high school. Testing had alerted us that his reading, writing and vocabulary skills were below the appropriate level. In fact, he tested as having the vocabulary level of a 7th grader. It had also been projected that he would likely obtain the ACT score of 18 in the future. After Joyce's teaching and guidance, he was able to catch up to his grade level and had fewer struggles with testing in his classes. He also achieved a 24 on his ACT! He only took the test once and this was perfect for the colleges to which he wished to apply. We are so pleased with Joyce's service and found her expertise to be extraordinary.
Peg & Keith
In the fourth grade, our son was hardly reading and writing. His teachers assured us that there was nothing wrong with him, although in the third grade his teacher thought he may be depressed. He received Title One services for reading, was red flagged for the reading program attended Sylvan Learning Center, and was also in the Gifted and Talented Program. As parents who are also both educators, we knew something was wrong and felt desperate to help our son, who worked so hard to make such little progress in learning to read. My general practitioner recommended Joyce. Working with Joyce was the first real step toward helping our son learn to read which enabled him to reach his academic potential. When we first learned of his disability, it was a difficult adjustment for our family and required a significant time commitment for Willie to reach his potential. Joyce’s evaluation and recommendations, though overwhelming at the time, were and continue to be one of the greatest blessings in our son’s life. I will never forget watching Willie’s response the day he sat and listened to Joyce review her assessment. His shoulders went down and he understood for the first time why learning to read was so hard even though he was very smart. That information he received was life changing for him. As I write these words, I am again deeply moved and grateful to Joyce for all of her help since that day.
As a senior in high school, our son was awarded multiple academic scholarships which helped him afford his college education, including one of the most prestigious local academic scholarships awarded in our area. Our son will graduate from the College of St. Scholastica this June with a Bachelors in Psychology, a Minor in Art, and all the pre-requisites completed to pursue a graduate degree in Physical Therapy, should he choose to do so. We seriously wondered if College were possible for him when he was in fourth grade.
Throughout his education, our son continued to see Joyce for re-evaluations as well as recommendations for appropriate accommodations. Joyce’s reports were highly regarded by teachers, administrators, special education staff, and all of the required college entrance testing agencies including ACT and most recently the GRE. I now work with a special education team and am involved in educational assessments myself. I have yet to see a more comprehensive assessment than what Joyce offers her clients regarding reading issues. Joyce is the reading expert whom I have referred many families to over the years for her help. My only regret for my son is that I did not learn of Joyce years earlier. As a result, he missed the multi-sensory teaching that he needed during vital years of his development. It is a long, often trying experience advocating for a child with a disability. After we started working with Joyce this journey began to make sense. We have sought her professional advice over these 13 years and she has always gone above and beyond serving our needs with research based heart felt professionalism. I have never met a professional in the field who works harder or cares more about her students than Joyce.
Peg MSW, LICSW
Licensed School Social Worker
Licensed Secondary Education Social Studies Teacher
Keith
Math Instructor
Lake Superior College
Norma – Clear Lake, WI
When someone loves their work it is inevitable that the quality of their work will be outstanding. Joyce has completed diagnostic assessments for both of my daughters; the process itself and knowledge gained exceeded my expectations. No stone is left unturned. Not only does Joyce offer her expertise but also friendly, high quality business standards.
David Morris, PhD - Licensed Psychologist, Stillwater, MN
I have known Joyce Pederson professionally for decades, referring cases to her when she was officed in Stillwater, and after her move to Hudson. Her assessments are thorough and show a deep understanding of the myriad variations of cognitive skills and deficits in struggling readers. There are many reading tutors out there, and it is rare to find one with her depth of knowledge about reading disabilities, a necessary foundation for figuring out the best learning plan for each student. Her extensive knowledge of the range of possible interventions is the widest that I have ever encountered, with a professor’s expertise and awareness of dozens of ways to help the learner, tailoring the remediation strategies to the unique profile of strengths and weaknesses of each individual student. In addition to her tutorial office, Dr. Pederson has a library of shelf after shelf of resource materials from many publishers, and actually knows them all. Plus, she keeps up to date with recent developments in reading research and instructional trends.
Cheryl Wesle - Director of Pupil Services School District of Amery
Dr. Joyce Pederson has worked with the School District of Amery in providing ongoing staff development in the area of reading. Her commitment to excellence is notable as she carefully tailored her workshops to meet the needs of our special education teaching staff. Dr. Pederson provides a valuable framework in which teachers can assess and design individual programs for students with reading disabilities. She provides a comprehensive look into reading skills as well as practical strategies and curriculum recommendations. Our District will continue to call on her expertise.