Peter A. Beddow, PhD, BCBA-D is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Accessible Hope, a multidisciplinary organization and therapy center for children and adolescents with a broad range of abilities and needs. In addition to offering direct applied behavior analysis and speech therapy services for children with Autism and other diagnoses, Accessible Hope provides training, tools, and support to organizations, schools, teachers, and parents in the United States and internationally through a variety of consulting, advisory, and training partnerships.

Peter received his doctorate in Special Education from Vanderbilt University in 2011. Prior to beginning his doctoral studies, Peter studied English literature and teacher education at Middlebury College in Vermont, where he grew up. Peter then worked as a licensed educator in California for seven years, earning his Master’s degree in Special Education from California State University and leading a Special Education classroom for students with emotional and behavior problems at Five Acres, a residential treatment facility for children with a history of trauma in Los Angeles County.

Peter is also a licensed and Board Certified Behavior Analyst – Doctoral. He has been a behavioral and educational consultant and ABA therapist for over 10 years. He is an adjunct professor in the College of Education at Lipscomb University. Prior to founding Accessible Hope, Peter was a behavior consultant in numerous schools and districts and was the Program Director for the Brown Center, a reputed early intervention clinic for children diagnosed with Autism in Nashville. He served two terms as a state representative for the Tennessee Association for Behavior Analysis. Peter served as the chair of the Applied Behavior Analysis Licensing Committee for the State of Tennessee until his term ended in 2022.

Peter is also a published researcher in the area of test development for students identified with disabilities. In partnership with colleagues Steve Elliott at Arizona State University and Ryan Kettler at Rutgers University, Peter has consulted with national and international federal and state assessment agencies and testing companies to develop accessible assessments of academic achievement that are free of barriers for students with a broad range of abilities and needs. He has published numerous articles and chapters on this topic, as well as two edited volumes: the Handbook of Accessible Achievement Tests for All Students, published in 2011, and a 2018 follow-up entitled the Handbook of Accessible Instruction and Assessment.

Dr. Beddow’s curriculum vita can be viewed here.