A FINNISH delegation was recently welcomed to Alloa by Scottish Autism, a national charity headquartered in the town.

The representatives arrived from Autism Foundation Finland as part of an ongoing knowledge exchange programme between the two organisations.

The Finnish foundation's senior leadership team and board spent two days in the Wee County, visiting a number of Scottish Autism services such as Gartinny Nursery, the Makers Café and new Struan School.

Charlene Tait, deputy CEO at Scottish Autism, said: “Both organisations have benefited from a space to reflect and to benchmark against one another in terms of where we are similar, but also where we are different.

“We hope that this will be an ongoing collaboration whereby we exchange not just knowledge, but also staff, in order to learn from the practice approaches each organisation employs.”

On the second day of the visit there was an opportunity for both organisations to share knowledge and practice approaches in order to learn from one another.

Timo Heiskala, chief executive of Autism Foundation Finland, added: “We came here because our organisations share the same values, where we value autistic people, their opinions, and ensuring that they are central to all of our thinking.

“We were very impressed by the services Scottish Autism deliver and we see this as an ongoing partnership which we hope will continue for many years.”