Finding friends can be hard, especially for parents. Add having a child with special needs and the opportunities for friends with similar interests becomes nearly impossible. Surprise! There’s an app for that. Here are three apps that can expand connections to new groups and opportunities for parents and kids.
YouBelong
The YouBelong app is specifically designed for people with special needs to meet and stay connected with those similar to them. It functions as a combined Facebook and Instagram, with easy messaging services, status-like updates and top-notch photo editing technology. The designer of the app was inspired by his special needs brother’s desire to find more friends. Likes all around for this new social media app.
Peanut
Peanut is a Tinder-like app with the sole purpose of connecting moms. While it is not strictly for special needs moms, the app allows users to choose three tags to help match them with others who chose similar tags near their location, and one tag option is special needs. Moms then have the option to ‘wave’ at other moms and will be matched with them if the mom waves back. It makes scheduling play dates, moms-night-out and other get-togethers easy in-app. We’d swipe right for this one.
Meetup
The Meetup app supplements the site which is, as the namesake implies, a way for people to meet up with others who have similar interests. What some may not know is that the app has a tag for special needs. You can choose your city and how far you are willing to travel, and since Chicago is such a fun place, there are plenty of hangouts to go around. The meet-ups can be small or large, for a specific special need or broad need. This app is great because it has meet-up groups for moms, children with special needs, and even dads. We’ve can’t wait to tap the join button.