Fuller was born in
Weston, Massachusetts to Harvey and Celynda (Fiske) Fuller, and was educated at
West Newton English and Classical School in
Massachusetts. After graduating in 1855, she taught in Newton and
Boston. In 1869, she trained at the Clarke School for the Deaf under
Harriet B. Rogers, then became principal at the newly formed Boston School for Deaf-Mutes; a school founded on the behest of Rev. Dexter S. King. In 1871, the school staff was trained in the skill of teaching deaf children how to speak by
Alexander Graham Bell. Sarah became an advocate of this practice, as well as the promotion of education for deaf children starting at the earliest age possible. She was also present when the first message was sent over the telephone. In 1890, Fuller applied the methods she learned and developed from Bell in giving the first speech lessons to
Helen Keller. In 1888, she published
An Illustrated Primer for teachers of the deaf. She helped found the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf in 1890, and became director of that association in 1896. She founded the Home for Little Deaf Children in 1902, and retired as a principal in 1910. Sarah died in
Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts, and is buried in
Saint Mary's Cemetery. ==Legacy==