ATOB Call for Manuscripts: March 1 – extension through September 1, 2021

The ATOB Volume 16 Call for Manuscripts opens on March 1, 2021 and closes on September 1, 2021.

Volume 16 Theme: AT Services During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic 

The COVID-19 global pandemic impacted all aspects of society in every country. Efforts to manage this public health crisis involved government agencies at the national, state, regional, and local levels resulting in disparate policies, recommendations, and practices affecting citizen’s daily lives. The most obvious decisions involved closing businesses, community services, and schools within a very short time period, transitioning children and adults to remote instruction and remote work. Whereas the government has monitored the impact of these transitions using metrics such as the positivity rate, economic growth measures, and unemployment rates, little is known about the impact of COVID-19 on the well-being of children and adults with disabilities or the social systems and services that support them.

This volume of ATOB invites authors to submit manuscripts that describe assistive technology services during and after the COVID-19 pandemic along with the analysis of lessons learned. International manuscripts are encouraged. Manuscripts may focus on any age group (e.g. school-aged children, post-secondary education, adults in the workforce) and any form of assistive technology. Manuscripts that describe organizational efforts (e.g., states, school districts, non-profit organizations, vendors) to pivot traditional service delivery models to new service delivery models (e.g., remote instruction, tele-practice, web-based) are particularly encouraged. For example, how did students receive new assistive technology devices during the pandemic? How did schools ensure that all digital curricula were accessible for students with disabilities? What role did AT teams play in supporting students and families during periods of remote instruction and engage in needs assessment? How were AT evaluations conducted for students or employees when working remotely? What barriers and supports emerged as more responsibility has been thrust on caregivers and users? Families and/or AT users are encouraged to share how the pandemic impacted them personally. Authors are encouraged to address “lessons learned,” and if available, share any evidence of the effectiveness of the new service delivery models and how such models may be continued or extended in a post-pandemic world. Authors may suggest those factors that influenced successful transition of delivery as a result of the pressures created by COVID-19 and how those factors could inform future service design.

This issue also includes articles from the broad scope of assistive technology research as part of ATOB’s mission to bring together the latest research in assistive technology in its annual issue.

Guest Editor: Dave Edyburn

Dave L. Edyburn, Ph.D., is Senior Research Scientist and Professor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and formerly Professor and Associate Dean for Research at the College of Community Innovation and Education, University of Central Florida. His research and teaching interests focus on the use of technology to enhance teaching, learning, and performance in the context of assistive technology, learning sciences, and universal design for learning.

He has served as Editor of Teaching Exceptional Children, Learning Disability Quarterly, Remedial and Special Education, Special Education Technology Practice, and the Journal of Research on Technology in Education. Dr. Edyburn will serve as the Guest Editor of the ATOB Volume 16 Issue: AT Services During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic. Please feel free to contact him with any questions about your potential manuscript: vol16editors@atia.org

Questions?  Please email ATOB Editor in Chief at: atobeditor@atia.org   

For general information about ATOB’s Editorial Policy and Manuscript Preparation Guidelines for Authors, please review:
ATOB’s Editorial Policy and Manuscript Author Guidelines

ATOB Manuscript Submission Form & Author Agreement

ATOB Manuscript Submission Form & Author Agreement

  • 1) Please provide the details of the lead author for this manuscript submission. A full list of authors should be included in the manuscript itself and the Author Agreements. Email communications about the manuscript will be with the lead author.
  • Articles may be submitted under three categories—
    • Voices from the Field - Articles submitted under this category should come from professionals who are involved in some aspect of AT service delivery with persons having disabilities (e.g., educators, related service, and care providers) or from family members and/or AT consumers with disabilities. Submissions may include case studies, project or program descriptions, approaches to service delivery, or consumer perspective pieces. All submissions should have a clear message about lessons learned from the experience and be written with enough detail to allow generalization of results to other situations. Voices from the Field manuscripts are peer-reviewed, but do not require the same level of scientific rigor as submissions in other categories. A more informal writing style with an emphasis on rich, detailed descriptions of experiences, procedures and implications is expected. Authors of Voices from the Field manuscripts are not required to support their personal perspectives with objective data or peer-reviewed literature. However, any personal viewpoints presented as generalized statements of fact should appropriately cite supporting research. Plagiarism and unsupported extension of such personal viewpoints to make general claims are not permitted. Reviews of literature that highlight the specific personal experiences are appropriate. Authors submitting to the Voices from the Field category may request ATOB to find a Sponsor among the Editorial Board members and ATOB reviewers who would provide an opportunity to discuss and improve a manuscript draft before submission. If you are interested in finding a sponsor, please contact: atobeditor@atia.org.
    • Voices from the Industry - Articles submitted under this category should come from professionals involved in developing and marketing specific AT devices and services. Case studies, design, marketing research, or project/ program descriptions are appropriate for this category. Voices from the Industry manuscripts may present the results of the research (and thus, follow the same outline as Voices from Academia) or present project/program descriptions (and thus, follow the same outline as Voices from the Field).
    • Voices from Academia - Articles submitted under this category should come from professionals conducting research or development in an academic setting. The style of writing should adhere to guidelines generally used in scientific journals. Submissions are likely to include applied/ clinical research, case studies, and project/ program descriptions. Sample outline for the Voices from Academia article is available in the Manuscript Preparation Guidelines for Authors.
  • ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY OUTCOMES AND BENEFITS - AUTHOR AGREEMENT
    Author Confirmation
    Please read each bullet below thoroughly, and complete the required questions regarding HIPAA compliance, IRB compliance (or equivalent), and disclosure of financial and non-financial relationships. By completing and submitting this form you are agreeing to the terms listed for ATOB authors.
    • I grant permission to ATIA to publish and to place on the Web my manuscript and related publication materials. I authorize ATIA to publish and distribute the above-described manuscript as highlights or in total on the ATIA Web site and in its publications. By giving my authorization, it is understood that other Web sites are and will be permitted to have links to the ATIA Web site, and that ATIA may cause the materials on the Web site to be accessed freely by the public at large. It is agreed that ATIA will not be held responsible for royalties or for infringement either (i) for use by ATIA and distribution of the manuscript as described above, or (ii) for any use or misuse of any of the manuscript by any person who obtains the materials (directly or indirectly) as a result of ATIA’s permitted use or distribution of the materials.
    • I attest that I am the author/owner and I am authorized to use the content included in the manuscript, and that ATIA is not liable for any content presented or misused on my part.
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    Accepted file types: doc, jpeg, png, docx, Max. file size: 50 MB.
      Please upload your draft manuscript and cover letter here. You may upload more than one file. It is important to upload your file in WORD and not as a PDF for accessibility review. Please note that the upload protocol only accepts WORD documents with .doc extension. Please save your .docx files with .doc compatibility. For greater accessibility during the review and production phases, please upload any tables or charts as separate files and describe the data represented in the tables. (Maximum File Size is 128 MB. )
    • To comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), we ask that all authors ensure the privacy of their patients/clients by refraining from using names, photographs, or other patient/client identifiers in manuscripts without the patient’s/client’s knowledge and written authorization. I am in compliance with these policies:
    • To ensure that appropriate protections are afforded to participants in research studies, ATOB requires a copy of Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval (or equivalent) for all manuscripts describing studies that are subjected to such requirements. Please indicate if IRB approval (or equivalent) was needed for the work described in the manuscript.
    • Conflicts of interest, whether real or perceived, have the potential to undermine the credibility of communications between stakeholders in all fields of study. In order to ensure that potential conflicts of interest are transparent to ATOB’s readership, all corresponding authors must respond to the following questions on behalf of all authors named on the relevant manuscript. Information will be included in the ATOB journal, such that it is available to all readers.
    • Do you or your co-authors have relevant financial relationships to disclose?
    • Financial Disclosure Form Information. NOTE: Corresponding author should complete the disclosure below for each co-author to whom it may apply.
    • Author Information (1)

    • Author Information (2)

    • Author Information (3)

    • Author Information (4)

    • Relevant Non-Financial Relationship

    • Author Information (1)

    • Author Information (2)

    • Author Information (3)

    • Author Information (4)

    • SIGNATURE SECTION

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