New app helps those with special needs make friends

For those with special needs, it can be difficult at times to make friends, but a new app is helping people with autism and other conditions connect with others.

Ben Raskin developed the free app Friendi after witnessing first-hand the difficulties a neighbor in California faced when trying to make friends. The app is specifically marketed to parents and guardians of people with autism, Asperger's and Down syndrome.

Parents control the messages sent in the app, which also allows them to find resources for people with special needs.

"I just wanted to put a great big banner over my house and say 'Needed: Friends,'" the parent of a child with special needs said of the void the app fills.

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