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
School Refusal and Anxiety
Your child refuses to go to school or becomes extremely distressed before school
Steps
- Take it seriously. School refusal is NOT truancy; it's anxiety-driven avoidance
- Identify the root cause: is it sensory, social, academic, a specific person, or unpredictability?
- Work WITH the school: request a meeting with the learning support team and class teacher
- Consider a phased return: start with 1 hour, one lesson, or just arriving and leaving
- Maintain structure at home on non-school days so the routine doesn't collapse entirely
What you need
School communication, professional support, phased return plan
Why it works
School refusal is anxiety-driven avoidance, not defiance. The child's nervous system has learned that school is unsafe — whether because of sensory overload, social difficulty, or academic pressure. Identifying and addressing the specific trigger, combined with a graduated return, rebuilds the child's sense of safety.
Age guidance
Can occur at any age, but common trigger points are school entry (age 4-5), around age 7-8, and the transition to secondary/middle school. The approach is the same but the triggers differ by age.
Real-world example
A parent discovered their child's school refusal started after the classroom layout changed. Nobody had connected the two. Once the school moved the child's desk back to a familiar position and reinstated a visual timetable, attendance recovered within two weeks.
Troubleshooting
- Forcing a distressed child into school can make anxiety worse long-term
- You are legally required to ensure education, but education can take many forms
- Alternative education options exist if mainstream school isn't working. Research what's available in your area
