ADHD & Autism Support That Fits How Your Brain Actually Works
Understood, not broken.
Thriive is the support app for ADHD and autistic brains — and the whole household behind them. Track your patterns, find strategies that actually fit, and walk into every appointment with evidence. For yourself, or for your child.
What changes with Thriive
Without Thriive
- Going through life believing you're broken
- Falling behind and never understanding why
- Slipping through the cracks of a system not built for you
- Trying everything and still feeling stuck
With Thriive
- Understanding how your brain actually works
- Confidence to advocate for what you need
- Strategies that actually fit, not generic advice
- Knowing you're not the problem
How Thriive supports ADHD and autistic people
- Pattern Tracker: Log a tough moment in 30 seconds. Thriive surfaces the patterns behind it — your triggers, your hardest times of day, what helps.
- Strategy Library: 130+ real strategies for ADHD and autism, matched to your neurotype and the time you've got. Not generic advice.
- Smart Strategies: Describe what's going on and Thriive builds a strategy around you — or around your child.
- Visual Routine Builder: Step-by-step routines for the moments that usually go sideways. Mornings, transitions, winding down.
- Daily Check-ins: A 30-second mood check that builds a picture of how you're really doing over time.
- Shareable Reports: Take real evidence to your GP, school, workplace, or therapist when it matters.
One app for the whole neurodivergent household
For adults
Understand your own brain. Build evidence for assessments and workplace adjustments. Stop feeling like you're figuring it out alone.
For parents
Spot the patterns behind the hard days. Advocate with confidence at school and with doctors. Strategies matched to your child, not a textbook.
For children
Feel seen. Understand how your own brain works. Build a profile that's yours.
Neurodivergent conditions Thriive supports
Parent Guides
Glossary
Daily Challenges
Strategy Categories
Community
ADHD Meltdown Strategies
Your child is in the middle of an emotional meltdown and you don't know what to do, or meltdowns keep happening and you want to understand why
Steps
- Stop talking. During a meltdown, your child's thinking brain is offline. Words become more noise to process and will make it worse
- Make yourself safe and boring. Get low, stay close but don't crowd, keep your body language open and calm
- Reduce sensory input: dim lights if you can, turn off background noise, remove other people from the space
- Breathe slowly and visibly. Don't tell them to breathe. Just do it yourself. Their nervous system will start to follow yours
- Wait. The meltdown has a beginning, middle, and end. You cannot speed it up, but you can avoid making it longer
- Once they are calm (not before), offer comfort: water, a blanket, a quiet cuddle. Let them lead what they need
What you need
Nothing except your own regulated presence. That is the most powerful tool you have
Why it works
An ADHD meltdown is not a tantrum. It is a neurological event where the brain's emotional regulation system is overwhelmed and the thinking, reasoning brain goes temporarily offline. No amount of logic, consequences, or instructions can reach a child in this state. The only thing that helps is reducing input and lending them your calm nervous system until theirs comes back online. This is called co-regulation, and it is backed by neuroscience.
Age guidance
Relevant at all ages. Meltdowns often peak between ages 4 and 8, but ADHD meltdowns can continue into the teenage years and adulthood. The approach stays the same; only the presentation changes.
Real-world example
A parent used to try to reason with their 7-year-old during meltdowns: 'If you just calm down we can talk about it.' It never worked and usually made things worse. When they switched to sitting quietly nearby, saying nothing, and breathing slowly, the meltdowns went from 45 minutes to about 15. The child later said 'I like it when you just sit there. It makes me feel safe.'
Troubleshooting
- If YOU are not calm, take three breaths before approaching. Your dysregulation will escalate theirs
- Never say 'calm down'. It has never worked in the history of meltdowns
- If the meltdown is in public, prioritise safety and your child's needs over what other people think. You can deal with the stares later
- Some children need physical space during a meltdown. Others need closeness. Follow their lead, not a textbook