The Support App for Parents of Children with ADHD or Autism
Thriive helps children grow up feeling understood, not broken.
Everyday support for families navigating ADHD, autism, and other neurodivergent profiles. Track the patterns, find strategies that actually fit, and feel one step ahead on the hard days.
What changes for parents of neurodivergent children
Without Thriive
- Growing up believing they're broken
- Falling behind and never understanding why
- Slipping through the cracks of a system not built for them
- Families feeling helpless watching it happen
With Thriive
- A child who understands how their brain works
- Parents who can advocate with confidence
- Strategies that actually fit, not generic advice
- A family that feels like a team
How Thriive supports parents of children with ADHD and autism
- Pattern Tracker: Log a tough moment in 30 seconds. Thriive surfaces the patterns behind ADHD and autism behaviours, so you can spot the triggers and respond earlier.
- Strategy Library: Real strategies for ADHD and autism, matched to your child's profile. Not generic advice.
- Visual Routine Builder: Step-by-step routines for the moments that usually go sideways. Mornings, bedtime, homework.
- Daily Check-ins: A 30-second mood check that builds a picture of how your child is really doing over time.
- Shareable Reports: Take real evidence to your GP, school, or therapist when it matters.
- The Hive: A community of parents who actually get it.
How Thriive helps parents, and how it helps their children
For parents
Understand your child like never before. Advocate with confidence. Stop feeling like you're figuring it out alone.
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
Sensory Overload Recovery
Your child has shut down or is in distress after sensory overload — which can be triggered by any combination of the eight sensory systems (sight, sound, touch, smell, taste, movement/vestibular, body awareness/proprioception, and internal signals/interoception like pain or temperature)
Steps
- Remove the source of overwhelm if possible (leave the noisy space, move away from strong smells)
- Find a quiet, dimly lit space with minimal sensory input
- Offer ear defenders, sunglasses, or a hood/blanket to reduce visual and auditory input
- Be aware that smell, temperature, touch, and movement can also be overwhelming — remove any strong scents, adjust temperature if possible
- Don't talk or ask questions. Words are more sensory input
- Offer water and a preferred sensory item when they're ready
- Allow FULL recovery time before returning to demands — rushing risks triggering another episode
What you need
Quiet space, ear defenders, comfort items, patience
Why it works
Sensory overload happens when the nervous system receives more input than it can process. Recovery isn't about calming down — it's about reducing all incoming stimulation so the nervous system can return to baseline. This is a neurological process that takes time and cannot be rushed.
Age guidance
Critical at all ages. Younger children need you to manage the environment for them; older children can learn to recognise and manage their own warning signs.
Real-world example
A parent learned to recognise the early signs — their child would start covering their ears and getting quieter. By removing them from the overwhelming environment at that stage instead of waiting for full shutdown, they could recover in 10 minutes instead of two hours.
Troubleshooting
- Remember overload is often multisensory: a combination of noise, light, smell, touch, movement, and temperature can push them over — not just one sense
- Recovery can take 20 minutes to several hours, so don't rush
- After recovery, the child may need a lower-demand afternoon
- Keep a 'sensory first aid kit' in the car for outings covering multiple senses (ear defenders, sunglasses, fidgets, scent-free wipes, chewy tube)
