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Helping Children with Special Needs |
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Welcome...to our site, launched December 2001. Updated 19th January 2008. The Alexander Trust still exists to provide support and information to special needs families, but will no longer fund raise. The trust encourages and promotes the freedom of information between families who wish to learn more about their own special needs children. After the birth of Alexander, who was born with cerebral palsy, his father - Richard Conibear, went on a tireless campaign to raise funds to pay for specialised treatment. Together with his wife - Linda, they gained so much information and experience and fund-raising developed so well, they decided to set up The Alexander Trust, to help other special needs families. Sadly, Alexander passed away in March 2002 and it is the wishes of his parents, Richard and Linda, to wind down the Trust as a registered charity. The Trustees identified two projects as worthy causes to receive the balance of The Alexander Trust fund. |
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WHAT IT IS HOW IT WORKS WHO WILL BENIFIT
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The Dilo Dome is a lightweight, igloo shaped structure of translucent, turquoise plastic with inflatable ribs, approximately 2 metres in diameter.
Mobile children can enter via a short tunnel, or a loose flap that also acts as an escape hatch. The dome, which has an open base, can easily be lifted on and off children confined to bed, or placed over children with limited mobility on the ground. Panels in the dome are decorated with colourful images of Dilo the dolphin, and/or pictures on lightly adhesive backings that can be changed at will. These are illuminated from outside by natural or artificial light – like stained glass windows in a church. This gives children inside the Dome the sensation that they are with Dilo. The Dilo Dome can be filled with sea and dolphin sounds from external speakers, or from internal battery powered tape/CD players. The Dome then becomes a magical, secluded space in which those who are able can read Dilo stories and/or colour dolphin pictures. Alternatively, the Dome can be used as a place in which children can listen to pre-recorded Dilo stories. Children love to have a space of their very own - a den. Once inside they are separated from the ordered, organised, controlled world of adults. It is secure. It is safe. Yet for most children it is a place of total freedom where their minds can wander. Using their imaginations and stimulated by pictures and/or sounds they can enter the magical, undersea kingdom of Dilo the dolphin. For children with neurological disorders such as Asperger's Syndrome, who become distressed when faced with new surroundings, the Dilo Dome is a safe haven in which they feel secure once they have become familiar with the interior.
Contact with dolphins, both real and imaginary, affects the human mind in many mysterious and wide-ranging ways. A lifting of the human spirit is almost universal, some experience unconditional love, often accompanied by the release of suppressed emotions. In others the effects are subconscious. The Dilo Dome recreates elements of these effects in a process similar to that in which the beneficial components of willow bark have been captured and reproduced in the form of Aspirin and its derivatives. Using this analogy the Dilo Dome is following in the footsteps of many illustrious predecessors, i.e., substitutes for natural therapeutic substances, or healing experiences that have been known about from earlier times, that have since been investigated, improved and then made universally available. Going into a Dome in a doctor’s surgery, a clinic, or a hospital, relieves the stress and fear that most children, and their parents, experience to a greater or lesser degree when faced with the prospect of medical treatments. Children in hospitals and hospices benefit directly from the healing power of dolphins during and after sessions inside a Dilo Dome especially when these are complimented with other treatments. Sessions inside the Dome can be used to dispel the feelings of loneliness and insecurity felt by children in isolation wards when their parents and friends have to leave after a visit. Children with special needs attending day centres can also be distracted from the distress caused by the departure of their parents by a spell inside a Dilo Dome. Although useful as a therapeutic space, children following orthodox educational programmes benefit when the Dilo Dome is used as a creative and learning space, inside which they can draw, write and assimilate knowledge. The Dome is a space into which all children will want to go. Time in the Dome can therefore be used as reward for achievement and/or good behaviour. The Dilo Dome Experience can be enjoyed alone or shared with others.
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The Headmaster at the Southwood Middle school, Milton Keynes tries out a prototype |
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THE DILO DOME is a continuation of Operation Sunflower - a long-term research project into the healing power of dolphins commenced by International Dolphin Watch in 1986.
TO FIND OUT MORE Contact: Tel/Fax: 01908 617318 |
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Richard has been researching dolphins and their ability to assist in the healing process since 1997. He has made numerous media appearances including BBC Points West and BBC Radio Bristol where the subject was ‘Alex and the Wild Hawaiian Dolphins’. He has appeared on Bath FM, GWR Radio and BBC Wiltshire Sound on ‘Fund-raising for the Trust’. He was recently interviewed by BBC Radio Humberside about ‘Dolphin Healing’, along with the world renowned dolphin researcher and founder of International Dolphin Watch, Dr. Horace Dobbs. Richard has had articles published in the ‘Daily Mail’ newspaper, ‘Disability Now’ and ‘Zest’ magazines. |
Richard Conibear |
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The Founder of the Trust |
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Alexander |
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We are here to help! If you need advice about dolphin healing programmes, special allowances to which you may be entitled, e.g. ‘Carer’s Allowance’, ‘Mobility Allowance’, etc., or just need someone to talk to that understands your concerns, please contact us or see information on our ‘Useful Links’ page. |
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The Main Man aged 6 and the inspiration for the Trust |
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