[5] After graduating from high school, Howard attended Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts where she majored in social work.

In 1921, she received her bachelor's degree and moved to Cleveland, Ohio where she started as a social worker.

One of her main conclusions was that triplets were less developed in general abilities compared to single children.

She was awarded an internship at the Illinois Institute for Juvenile Research after receiving her doctorate and eventually began her own clinical psychology-based private practice.

From 1940 to 1964, Howard co-directed the Center for Psychological Services with her husband Albert Sidney Beckham.

Howard continued her work in Chicago as a consultant for children's programs at the Abraham Lincoln Center and Worthington and Hurst Psychological Consultants, a psychologist for the McKinley Center for Retarded Children, on the Chicago Health Board, Mental Health Division, and her private practice for another four years.