The Developmental Disabilities Network Journal (DDNJ) is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal published two times per year by the Center for Persons with Disabilities, Utah State University, Logan UT 84322, USA. The journal is available online at http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ddnj.

©2020 Center for Persons with Disabilities. Material appearing in the DDNJ, unless otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY 4.0). Under this license, others may distribute, copy, remix, adapt, build upon the material, and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially, as long as they credit the author for the original creation. The views expressed in the DDNJ are not necessarily those of the publisher.

Editor-in-Chief: Matthew T. Wappett, Ph.D.
Managing Editor: M. Bryce Fifield, Ph.D.
Assistant Editors: Mary Ellen Heiner and Dave Clark
Editorial Board (Associate Editors):

• Tawara Goode, Ph.D., Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development
• Mark Innocenti, Ph.D., Utah State University Center for Persons with Disabilities
• Wendy Parent-Johnson, Ph.D., University of Arizona Sonoran Center for Excellence in Disabilities
• Marcia Moriarta, Psy.D., University of New Mexico Center for Development and Disability
• Derek Nord, Ph.D., Indiana University Institute on Disability and Community
• Randall Owen, Ph.D., University of Nevada Center for Excellence in Disabilities
• Christine Pisani, M.S., Idaho Council on Developmental Disabilities
• Jesse Suter, Ph.D., University of Vermont Center on Disability and Community
• Inclusion Kiriko Takahashi, Ph.D., University of Hawaii at Manoa Center on Disability Studies
• Matthew Wangeman, M.C.P., Institute for Human Development at Northern Arizona

University Journal Subject Area: The DDNJ publishes high-quality research and evaluation about the multiple systems that serve individuals with disabilities and their families. Central to these systems is the “Developmental Disabilities Network,” a group of federally designated programs in each U.S. state and territory, that provide advocacy, training, research, and service focused on the unique needs of people with disabilities and their families. This journal specifically highlights programs, practices, and policies that encourage the full inclusion of people with disabilities in communities and all aspects of public life.

Advertisements: The DDNJ accepts digital advertisements. For advertising rates and specifications, contact editor.ddnj@usu.edu. Articles appearing in the DDNJ are not currently included in any research indices because there is not enough content for indexing purposes. The DDNJ will be indexed after the publication of Volume 1, Issue 2.

Cover Design: The DDNJ cover and logo were designed by Kelly Smith and Mary Ellen Heiner from the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University.

Acknowledgments

All of our lives have been redefined by the COVID-19 pandemic. The healthcare and social service system across our country has been strained to its breaking point. Everyone, from advocates to administrators, quickly pivoted at the beginning of the pandemic and adapted their operations. Many researchers recognized that the pandemic provided a unique opportunity to gather data and document how systems evolved to meet the needs of their constituents during the public health crisis. We are excited to share their work in this latest issue of DDNJ.

Just a couple of months into the pandemic we were contacted by Ronda Jenson from the AUCD Council on Research and Evaluation (CORE) about pulling together a special issue of DDNJ focusing on the impact of the pandemic on the disability service system. We were excited to bring Ronda on as the Guest Editor for this issue and it has been a privilege to work with her over the last few months. We are also grateful to John Tschida, the AUCD Executive Director, for helping to co-author the introduction to this issue with Ronda Jenson. Please take some time to check out their introduction to this special issue.

The CORE membership was also vital to the success of this latest issue. CORE members responded with abstracts, articles, and served as peer reviewers for this special issue. The quality of the content in this issue is a direct reflection of the commitment of the AUCD Council on Research and Evaluation to high standards of scholarship and a commitment to research and evaluation that makes a difference.

This issue would not have been possible without the quick response to our call for abstracts and papers. We are grateful to all of the contributors and we have enjoyed working with all of you to bring your scholarship to press.

We are also deeply indebted to the hard work of many people who have served as peer reviewers for this issue of the journal. We have had faculty, researchers, teachers, direct support staff, family members, and self-advocates who have contributed to the reviews this time and we would like to thank each of you who have taken the time to provide your feedback to the journal staff and the authors.

We would especially like to thank the team at the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development (Tawara Goode, Rachel Brady, Caitlin Schille, and Joan Christopher), who have worked with us over the past few months to evaluate a model for facilitating self-advocate input into the publishing process. We have learned much from their experience and look forward to continuing this work until we can arrive at a process that is adaptable and accessible for a variety of contexts.

We would like to thank the following individuals for their dedication and commitment to this project.

• The team at the USU Merrill-Cazier Library including Becky Thoms, Rebecca Nelson, and Shannon Smith
• Benedek Nyikos at Digital Commons/bepress
• The Production Team at the USU Center for Persons with Disabilities: Bryce Fifield, Ph.D., Mary Ellen Heiner, and Kelly Smith

We hope that you find value in this new journal and we are interested in your thoughts and feedback. If there are ways that we can make this publication more accessible or inclusive we want to hear from you. Please send your comments and feedback to editor.ddnj@usu.edu

Thank you.

Matthew T. Wappett, Ph.D.
DDNJ Editor-in-Chief