Diversity and Reaching Families: An interview with Luis Columna

I recently had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Luis Columna about his background in the field of APE, and his recent projects and research endeavors. Dr. Columna is a native of San Juan Puerto Rico and currently is an Associate Professor in the Kinesiology Department at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Dr. Columna has published two books, as well as numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.  His research focuses on ways to increase the participation of families (especially Hispanic) of children with disabilities into physical activity and also his research focuses on ways to better prepare physical activity professionals and physical education teachers to work with diverse populations. One of Dr. Columna's projects that is discussed with the podcast is FitFamilies. FitFamilieis is a physical activity program that brings together children with disabilities, their parents, college students and in-service professionals in the fields of APE and special education. Below is a video that shows a preview of what FitFamilieis offers to families of children with disabilities. 

Within this podcast episode we discuss Dr. Columna's background in APE, diversity in the field of PE and how to promote diversity in PE, how to effectively collaborate and communicate with parents, and the great work the FitFamilies program is doing.