Rhodri Lathey of the Owl Centre has been good enough to provide me with another update on the educational multidisciplinary service for children and adults that I’ve been delighted to have had associated with the blog all year.
Here’s is Rhodri’s latest message;-
“As 2019 comes to its conclusion, Paul has asked me to write a brief update with Owl Centre news.
Closest to home, our South Wales team has recently been bolstered by a number of excellent therapists. As well as Speech and Language Therapy and Music Therapy, we now offer Play Therapy, Special Educational Needs Support, and Dance / Movement Psychotherapy, which can help with a wide range of behavioural and emotional difficulties experienced by children (and adults). We probably need a therapist who can help Bluebirds fans when the team isn’t performing well (which, in my father’s 70 years of supporting the club, is probably the majority of the time, he’d say!).
Further afield, we have continued our annual project of sending out therapists to Vietnam to help Saigon Children’s Charity. The purpose is to train therapists and therapy assistants in order to equip them with the skills required to help children with Autism. This year saw the first year of trainees graduate as ‘Owl Centre Champions’, having completed a three-year course. Twenty three of 30 trainees successfully passed, having attended numerous training sessions with us, and having been rigorously assessed. This is a good example of exporting British best practice around the world in the attempt to equip less advanced countries with the skills they require to tackle an Autism explosion which is global in scope.
On the subject of international travel, a group of 7 of us recently enjoyed the delights that Azerbaijan has to offer, as we travelled to Baku to watch Wales in the Euros qualifier. The city was awash with Welsh fans, and, needless to say, the bars were doing very good business. Baku is a real mix of the traditional and the modern, with a strong Muslim and Soviet influence sitting alongside ultra-modern architecture and supercars. Food and drink were relatively cheap (as long as you weren’t stung by one of the locals looking to make an easy buck), but this will almost certainly not be the case when we return in June for the Euros themselves. Having made initial enquiries, our hotel room prices have increased tenfold. Better get saving!
Anyway, this is some way off yet, and, as Christmas is now almost upon us, we at The Owl Centre wish Paul, the readers of his blog, and Cardiff City F.C. a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. Let’s hope that Cardiff get as many points as possible over the next very busy week or so of football.”
Thank you Rhodri, both for your Christmas greeting and for your very much appreciated support throughput this year.
A very Merry Christmas to all readers and to everyone at the Owl Centre.
