Dr. Mary Shepherd currently leads the Behavior Department at Oklahoma Pediatric Therapy Center. She decided on this career path because of her love for children and specializes in working with children and families of children diagnosed with Autism. She utilizes the foundational principles of Applied Behavior Analysis in her work and focuses on adapting the principles of ABA to everyday behavior interventions. She chose to work at OPTC because of the Christ led mission.

Dr. Shepherd has a PhD in School Psychology from Oklahoma State University. She is a licensed psychologist in the state of Oklahoma, a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and a Nationally Certified School Psychologist. She completed her predoctoral internship at The May Institute in Braintree, Massachusetts and her post-doctoral fellowship at the Kennedy Krieger Institute through Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Shepherd has been a faculty member at Southwestern Oklahoma State University and the University of Central Oklahoma. She is also a consultant to Oklahoma State Department of Education, OTISS Project.

Her favorite quote is “The next time you are tempted to look down on someone, realize you are capable of going through the exact same experience.” Her favorite bible verse is “Be strong and courageous because the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

During her time off, Dr. Shepherd enjoys spending time with her family, who supports her all the way. She has one dog named Ava and another we don’t acknowledge.

One of her favorite things is when a parent feels comfortable sharing all of their life, celebrating the good days and crying on the bad ones.

We love having Dr. Shepherd on our team!