Sissy Peters
Program Director, VKC Reading Clinic and ECHO Reading
Staff - UCEDD
Overview of Interests
Sissy Peters, M.Ed., graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2011 with a degree in Psychology and Education. She immediately pursued a master’s degree from the High Incidence Special Education Program at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University. After graduating from Vanderbilt in May 2013, she moved to Austin, TX, to teach at a school solely designed for students with dyslexia. Sissy later returned to Tennessee to teach as a seventh grade Resource teacher in a public-school setting. After gaining experience in both the private and public sector of education, Sissy returned to Vanderbilt to lead the VKC Reading Clinic.
Sissy directs all elements of the Reading Clinic’s development and operations. In addition to her responsibilities at the Clinic, she has also served as an adjunct faculty member for the Early Childhood and Elementary Education Graduate Program and a teaching assistant for the High Incidence Advanced Reading Methods course, and has also created a Professional Development curriculum for the Low Incidence Special Education Graduate Program. She is also the head of ECHO Reading, which launched in January 2020.
Sissy is especially passionate about closing the research to practice gap by creating accessible tools and platforms to disseminate best practice for reading instruction. She firmly believes that all children deserve access to evidence-based instruction regardless of their zip code. Sissy’s passion is only matched by the perseverance of her successful younger brother who never let his dyslexia diagnosis stop him.