VOLUNTEERS with sewing skills and a sense of humour are being sought for an unusual assignment - stitching together realistic dolls to help people with learning disabilities find out about sex.

The half-sized dolls, complete with genitalia underneath their clothing, are the brainchild of Rev Jane Fraser, a Ryall-based vicar who is also a sex education trainer and consultant.

She came up with the idea during the 1980s, after encountering problems in explaining sex to people with learning disabilities.

"Whereas most young people develop an ability to able to understand abstract ideas, children with learning disabilities have incredible difficulty with that kind of thing," she said. "They need something three-dimensional."

The dolls allow practical demonstrations to be given and also enable people with difficulties in communicating to describe problems with abuse or illness.

As faith representative to the Department of Health's Teenage Pregnancy Unit, Rev Fraser is acutely aware of the need for more sex education for people with learning disabilities.

"The majority of girls who leave special education become pregnant within the first two years," she said, adding that many are the result of predatory relationships and/or lack of understanding on the girls' part.

Since Rev Fraser invented the dolls, around 500 of them have gone out to education centres and schools around the country. The Department of Health has also picked up on them as a valuable educational tool and is taking over their production.

The new models will be a darker colour and will probably have working mouths, as well as a more "neutral" expression. However, they will not be available for another two years.

Meanwhile, volunteers are needed to help the one seamstress making the existing models.

Experience of making soft toys is desirable, as stitching the three-dimensional dolls together is tricky and takes weeks to complete. A fee is paid for each completed pair.

Contact Rev Fraser on 01684 594715.