Maintaining healthy fitness levels is challenging enough for the general population and can be even more complicated for those with disabilities. What can we do about some of the common barriers so our loved one with special needs is on a path toward health?

To talk to us about fitness in the special needs community is Ryan Lockard, founder and CEO of Specialty Athletic Training. Since its launch in 2012 Specialty Athletic Training has exclusively trained individuals with special needs.

Ryan is going to share with us what his learning curve looked like on making fitness fun for his client and some ideas on how to pay for a trainer using available waiver funding. While Ryan is not a registered dietitian, food is certainly a very large piece of the fitness puzzle and we talk about it and a few things that have brought his clients success.

This is the second episode in a twelve part health series. Topics in the series are: caregiver emotional/mental health, medical cannabis, training physicians to treat special needs patients, hygiene tips and tricks, puberty and body awareness/boundaries, dental exams, pelvic exams and menstrual options, caregiver physical fitness, and caregiver spiritual health.