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Theme: Achieving Health Outcomes Across the Lifespan

The 148th AAIDD Annual Meeting will provide a forum for researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and advocates to come together to explore opportunities, strategies, and challenges related to integrated care, health equity, healthcare access, and health outcomes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Achieving health outcomes for people with IDD across the lifespan in the wake of post-pandemic changes will require strategic planning cross-system collaboration, and multi-disciplinary and tiered systems of support and services, and interagency collaborations.

The conference will:

  • Include plenary sessions focused on the social determinants of health and emerging research, policies, and practices that support health outcomes.
  • Feature panel presentations, poster presentations, issue briefs, and poster symposia on new and emerging knowledge in our field. 
  • Provide networking opportunities to build professional relationships, facilitate the informal exchange of ideas, and aid in personal and career growth.

 AAIDD seeks proposals that highlight new and emerging knowledge in the field of IDD. Evidence-based research, practice, and policy-oriented proposals on all topics of concern to people with IDD are welcome, authors do not need to limit themselves to the conference theme in their submissions.

Submission Deadline: November 27, 2023 at midnight eastern time.

  We're sorry, our submission portal is now closed. 


 

Proposal Formats

Concurrent sessions are scheduled for one hour. AAIDD will assign a moderator to each concurrent session; do not identify a moderator in your proposal.

Individual Paper Presentation

Consist of presentations whose content could be conveyed in 20-30 minutes (including question period). AAIDD will group 2-3 paper presentations on a common topic or theme into one 60-minute concurrent session.

Issue Briefs

Consist of a short informative update on the latest from our field. The session inlcudes approximately 8 speakers with 5-7 minutes of presentation time each supported by 3-5 PowerPoint slides. (If selected for this format, speakers must provide slides in advance of the conference.) Time for discussion is allotted after all speakers have made their presentations. 

Poster Symposia

Consist of a hybrid of poster and panel presentation.  Each symposium consists of an average of approximately 8 speakers with 5-7 minutes of verbal presentation time about their posters followed by individual Q&A at their poster board.

Full Panel Presentation

Small groups of authors may submit 3 distinct but thematically linked presentation proposals of 15 minutes each (to be followed by a 15-minute question period). Panel presentations will be reviewed as a group presentation.

Poster

Individuals or groups of authors submit proposals for interactive poster presentations in which they can discuss their work with conference participants in a 90-minute evening session.

Tools for Success

Scoring Rubric

Proposal abstracts are limited to a total of 600 words across four fields. While the system will allow a word or two over this limit, it will not accept notably longer abstracts.  The four sections of the 600-word abstract are:

  1. Background & Purpose/Aims
    (150 words)
  2. Description/Design
    (250 words)
  3. Outcomes/Findings 
    (100 words)
  4. Implications & Impact
    (100 words)

Download Scoring Rubric

Tips for Submitting Proposals to English-language Conferences

Here are some tips that will help you in getting your proposal accepted for an English-language conference.

  1. Make sure that your submission can be easily understood by English-speaking reviewers.
    Translation software works best with short sentences. Short, clear sentences are more accurately translated by software than long or complex sentences.
  2. Make sure that your submission is professional and contemporary.
    Use terms that are in current and common use by English-speaking professionals. Some terms are no longer used by professionals and may even be considered offensive.  For example, the term “Mental Retardation” is no longer used by English-speaking professionals. Using this term may result in a poor review of your submission.  In the U.S., “Intellectual Disability” is used. In the U.K. “Learning Disabilities” is used.
  3. Understand and use the scoring criteria to your advantage.
    The criteria that will be used to score proposals are almost always provided. Prepare your proposal to respond to the scoring criteria. Proposals that do not respond to the scoring criteria will receive a poor review.
  4. Follow proposal submission procedures.
     *Submit your proposal on time.
     *Answer all questions and fill in all data entry fields.
     *Give the most attention to the parts of a proposal that are worth the most points.
  5. Seek advice.
    The submission portal may list an email contact to request more information. It may also be helpful to ask an experienced colleague for their tips in submitting a proposal to an English language conference.

 

 

Questions? Contact Us


2024 Call for Papers Timeline


September 25: 
Call for Papers Opens

November 27: 
Deadline for submitting proposals

December
Review Committee is identified
Abstracts are organized into panels for peer review

January
-Review Committee stars screening abstracts
-Review Committee calls are scheduled and final scores are submitted
-Panels and sessions are organized and finalized 

February 15 (tentative)
Lead authors are notified of their abstract decision

March 15
Authors must confirm or decline their invitation


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Translations provided by the International Interest Network
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