(LOS ANGELES, CA – March 28, 2016) – Dignisoft, a software startup based out of Los Angeles, CA was founded with the intention of solving social challenges for underserved populations. School Counselor and co-founder Benjamin Raskin described his personal experience working with children with Autism, he, like many people, observed first hand the isolation and disengagement that is so commonly associated with this population. He also witnessed the emotional struggle for parents who fear that loneliness could be a lifelong hurdle for their kids. After talking with many parents and professionals alike, it became clear that meaningful friendships were not only a yearning desire for parents but also proven to be tremendously helpful for the social development of their children.
The question now became how to assist children with Autism in the formation of meaningful and mutual friendships? Benjamin Raskin, holding a Masters Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, theorizes that the social difficulties which hinder this population’s ability to form friendships primarily lies within the initiation process. He is quoted saying, “the children first have difficulty initiating a conversation, and second have trouble identifying and expressing their interests to one another. Once these two prerequisites have taken place, the chance of forming a real friendship increases exponentially. It is on this premise that the mobile app “Friendi” was first conceived.
When parents take on the role of friendship initiator, they relieve their child of the difficult icebreaking experience and can thus jump-start the friendship development process without requiring any initial involvement from the child. By this point, children are already half way to the finish line in forming meaningful, mutual and potentially life-long friendships, naturally.” The next step is for the initiating parents to plan a get-together, provide warm introductions to each other’s children and then, sit back and observe. Benjamin describes this process as a “planned coincidence.” Friendi’s bright and simple design is surely something to appreciate. But even more impressive is the app’s future implications. This parent supervised and facilitated friendship making app for children with Autism further demonstrates the potentially life-changing impact that technology continues to have on children with special needs.
Friendi will be launching the iOS version of the app July of this year.
To learn more about Friendi, visit www.friendiapp.com if you want to help support this development you can email Ben directly at Ben@friendiapp.com
