Volume 2 issue 1

By Ann Smith MSN, RN, CDDN

Welcome to the third publication of the International Journal of Nursing in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IJNIDD), which includes articles and book reviews by nurses and a social worker  from Australia, British Columbia, Scotland and the United States.  One of the authors is also a parent of a child with special needs

This issue will enlighten nurses and other readers about:

• GERD in nonverbal children and adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities
• Health services for adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities and community partnerships in British Columbia
• Health promotion for people with intellectual/developmental disabilities in Scotland
• The role of a mother of a child with special needs who is hospitalized (based on the personal experience of a mother who is also a nurse)  

International Journal of Nursing in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities continues to be a free electronic peer reviewed journal that offers new, readily available learning opportunities for nurses and other interested parties who meet people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families.  The journal also provides an opportunity for international experts, including family members as well as professionals, in the field of intellectual/developmental disabilities to share their vast wealth of knowledge with others, regardless of geographic location. 

The Editorial Board welcomes interdisciplinary collaboration and international reader participation. Please join us in continuing our quest to provide this resource to all who come in contact with people with intellectual/developmental disabilities in order to assist with improving the health care supports for people who have intellectual and developmental disabilities across the life span in diverse practice settings worldwide.

Ann Smith, MSN, RN, CDDN has over thirty years experience in the field of Developmental Disabilities Nursing and was among the first group of nurses to receive certification as a Certified Developmental Disabilities Nurse (CDDN). Her experience covers the life span of individuals with developmental disabilities in a variety of settings. For eighteen years she was the Director of Health Services at the Evergreen Center in Milford, Massachusetts, where she continues to work part time as Health Services Advisor. She has been involved in various educational and advocacy roles and served as Secretary on the Board of Directors of Personal Advocacy and Lifetime Support (PALS). Ann Smith serves as Certification Chair in her role as Second Vice President of the Developmental Disabilities Nurses Association (DDNA).  She is a charter member and Treasurer of the Bay State Developmental Disabilities Nurse Network (BSDDNN), the regional network of the DDNA)and has also held positions as Vice President and President of the BSDDNN.    With support from the BSDDNN, the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) Program and Shriver New England Index, Ann Smith created and continues to maintain the BSDDNN Web site (http://www.ddnursing.org).  Her vision regarding the need to educate all nurses in the area of intellectual and developmental disabilities led to her initiation of the development of this journal when she was a 2001 LEND Fellow at the Shriver Center in Waltham, Massachusetts.  She participated with other LEND Fellows as Co-editor of the Community Membership issue and was Guest Editor of the Genetics issue of the on-line journal, Leadership Perspectives in Developmental Disability www.ddleadership.org.