26/06/08 - Social networking site to open doors for special friends

IA unique worldwide social networking site, which aims to help young people with learning difficulties keep in touch and communicate with each other has been launched.

Special Friends aims to provide a platform for young people with learning difficulties to interact with one other, introducing a novel new approach to communicating, called Smiley Talk.

The facility, which will work alongside standard written messaging, is exclusive to the Special Friends website, and will enable young people from across the world to communicate by converting a series of emotive images into sentences, which are then translated into the chosen language of the end user.

Following the popularity of sites such as Bebo and Facebook, Special Friends has been created to allow young people with learning difficulties to communicate for themselves via social networking, but using a simpler and more visual format.� The site will be strictly policed to protect its users at all times. The website also provides a platform to encourage carers and family members to speak with each other and offer support and advice. With the multiple languages covered by Smiley Talk, Special Friends hopes to encourage friendships between young people across the globe.

Special Friends founder Martin Harris has been actively involved in helping young people with learning difficulties for many years. As the founder of established charity Follow Your Dreams, Martin has seen at first hand the need for a site such as this.

Many of the young people that the Follow Your Dreams charity has helped have gone on to take part in the World Special Olympic Games.� It was during the Shanghai Games in 2007 that Martin saw the real need for new friends and the ‘buddies’ (organised volunteers) who accompany the athletes during the Special Olympics to be able stay in touch when they returned to their home countries. But, the complexities posed by regular social networking websites and the language barriers made this virtually impossible. Speaking of his decision to launch the unique networking site, Martin said: “The launch of Special Friends is a major turning point for young people with learning difficulties, in terms of how they chat and communicate with their friends. For many years it has been evident that many mainstream forms of communication have not considered the requirements of users with special needs, and as a result they are very often left behind. With the introduction of Special Friends, I hope that young people and their carers from across the world can begin to build on the friendships and social networks that many of them already have, but now with much greater ease, security and peace of mind.”

To find out more about Special log on to www.specialfriendsonline.com

�Special Friends was created by its founder Martin Harris from Barry, near Cardiff to help young people with learning difficulties communicate with other users both at home and abroad.

The idea for Special Friends came about after Martin witnessed the close friendships that were made between the athletes from different countries at the Special Olympics in 2007.

The Special Olympics, MENCAP, BILD and ------ have all given their backing to Special Friends.

Annual membership to Special Friends is �7.99 for single membership and �9.99 for a family membership, with �1 of which donated a Special Friend affiliated charity.

Special Friends employs a team of moderators to continually monitor the content and security of the users on the Special Friends website.

Smiley Talk is a unique communicating language that is unique to Special Friends and is a registered trademark of Special Friends Online.

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