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
Screen Time Without the Battles
Every screen-off transition triggers a meltdown, and you dread the moment you have to say 'time's up'
Steps
- Understand WHY screen transitions are so hard: screens provide intense dopamine stimulation. Asking an ADHD or autistic brain to transition from high-dopamine to low-dopamine is neurologically painful, not just annoying
- Use countdown warnings: 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 2 minutes. A visual timer they can see works better than verbal warnings alone
- Create a 'save point' system: 'Finish this level and save' is much easier to comply with than an abrupt 'turn it off now'
- Make the next activity appealing. Don't just end the screen; offer something worth transitioning TO. 'Screen off, then we're making pizza' works better than 'screen off, now do homework'
- Agree screen time limits BEFORE the screen goes on: 'You've got 30 minutes. I'll give you warnings at 10 and 5.' Pre-agreed limits cause less conflict than mid-session negotiations
- If meltdowns still happen, stay calm and don't add consequences in the moment. The meltdown IS the consequence of the neurological pain of transition
What you need
A visual timer, pre-agreed time limits, an appealing next activity, patience
Why it works
Screens activate the dopamine reward system intensely. For ADHD and autistic brains, which already have irregular dopamine regulation, transitioning away from a screen is neurologically equivalent to someone taking away a source of comfort mid-use. Countdown warnings, save points, and appealing alternatives ease the brain out of the high-dopamine state gradually instead of ripping it away.
Age guidance
Relevant from age 3 onwards. The approach works at every age, but the specific language and level of autonomy should increase as children get older.
Real-world example
A parent switched from saying 'turn it off NOW' to 'you've got until the end of this episode, then we're making popcorn.' The meltdowns went from daily to occasional within two weeks. The child wasn't fighting the screen-off. They were fighting the abruptness and the void that followed.
Troubleshooting
- Taking the device away as punishment for not turning it off creates a cycle of anxiety that makes future transitions harder, not easier
- Some children do better with a physical timer they can see counting down. The Time Timer app or a sand timer works well
- If your child hyperfocuses on screens, this isn't addiction. It's their brain doing what it's designed to do. The issue is the transition, not the screen time itself
- Natural transition points (end of an episode, end of a level) are much easier to comply with than arbitrary time limits
