--- title: 'Behind the Impact: Hilla Katki helps parents and their neurodivergent kids thrive' slug: behind-the-impact-hilla-katki-helps-parents-and-their-neurodivergent-kids author: Understood Team published: '2025-11-14T00:00:00.000-05:00' category: Understood updates excerpt: "A behind-the-scenes look at how Hilla Katki and a team of experts at Understood.org are helping parents reduce the number and intensity of emotional outbursts in their neurodivergent kids.\n" source_url: https://www.understood.org/en/blog/behind-the-impact-hilla-katki-helps-parents-and-their-neurodivergent-kids --- # Behind the Impact: Hilla Katki helps parents and their neurodivergent kids thrive ## **Behind the Impact** Treatment for neurodivergence can be challenging. Parents often find that their child’s treatment plan focuses almost exclusively on addressing academic issues related to learning and thinking differences. Parents may feel unprepared to deal with some of the more nuanced emotional challenges faced by neurodivergent kids. ## **The other neurodivergent challenge ** It’s not just schoolwork. Neurodivergent kids, including kids with ADHD and dyslexia, often experience emotions with greater intensity. Their feelings may be harder to manage — or may last much longer. ![](https://cdn-images.understood.org/ifcoor6xo6lf/45IzK9qbo9qyoPeZmqARYS/a0ed152597dc833b16aa5b4e04805ce1/Hilla_1.png) ## **Emotional outbursts challenge everyone** As the parent of a kid with ADHD, Understood product designer Hilla Katki knows what it’s like to feel overwhelmed by a child’s outburst. “I know my child isn’t being defiant,” Hilla says. “Their brain just works differently. But that doesn't make parenting through intense moments any less challenging day after day.” ![](https://cdn-images.understood.org/ifcoor6xo6lf/1SDukJLl5lemL5MmLNjiRb/c155f589513b60b18271a0d59d52a2e2/Hilla_2.png) ## **A new question, and a better problem to solve ** Instead of learning to manage kids’ meltdowns, what if parents could prevent them? That question led Understood to create an internal team whose sole purpose would be to give parents a simple way to learn what triggers their child’s emotional outbursts.  ![](https://cdn-images.understood.org/ifcoor6xo6lf/47DU28TcVhAdlHADxzzdfb/b57d25e4b23a2cfa36666c98ee18b98f/Hilla_3.png) ## **Tracking behaviors can reveal emotional triggers** As part of the team, Hilla worked with researchers, experts in childhood behavior, and content creators to design a free, simple-to-use [Behavior Tracker](https://www.understood.org/en/app). The tracker can spot patterns that are common on days when a child has an outburst. For many parents, it can be a huge unlock for the entire family when the tracker helps them finally pinpoint what’s triggering their child’s meltdowns.  ![](https://cdn-images.understood.org/ifcoor6xo6lf/5lolDX5z8kpBZvQZcqLlnv/9d41dc833dd04564c414c1d35d97f32c/Hilla_4.png) ## **Helping parents move from insights to action** Hilla and the team wanted to be sure parents would take action on these insights. So they paired key steps in the tracker with [short, self-guided lessons](https://www.understood.org/en/lessons). The more parents track their child’s behaviors, the more insights they receive — and the more equipped they are to use those insights. “It’s exciting to see how it’s helping families thrive,” Hilla says. “Early on, we studied parents who used the tracker. Eighty percent of those who used it five times said it helped them feel more confident handling their child’s challenging behavior. Imagine how confident they feel when they start receiving the insights generated after tracking their child’s behaviors over longer periods.” ![](https://cdn-images.understood.org/ifcoor6xo6lf/6yMOjv7IkLtaOkAS8NiqLg/6bb7bfca99d4dc414723ff1b80b060d2/Hilla_5.png) ## **Help us help others thrive** Check out our [career page](https://www.understood.org/en/join-our-team) for open roles that match your skill set. or Help fund our work so we can continue to provide free access to expert-vetted tools and resources that help people with learning and thinking differences thrive at work, at school, or at home. [Donate to support our mission](http://understood.org/donate).  ![](https://cdn-images.understood.org/ifcoor6xo6lf/4eBieVAhK555STvLKhmzuu/5777bc54c2854c8ca9ed93ba5644f966/Hilla_6.png) --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.understood.org/en/blog/behind-the-impact-hilla-katki-helps-parents-and-their-neurodivergent-kids#webpage","url":"https://www.understood.org/en/blog/behind-the-impact-hilla-katki-helps-parents-and-their-neurodivergent-kids","description":"A behind-the-scenes look at how Hilla Katki and a team of experts at Understood.org are helping parents reduce the number and intensity of emotional outbursts in their neurodivergent kids.\n","datePublished":"2025-11-14T00:00:00.000-05:00"},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://www.understood.org/en/blog","name":"Blog"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://www.understood.org/en/blog/behind-the-impact-hilla-katki-helps-parents-and-their-neurodivergent-kids","name":"Behind the Impact: Hilla Katki helps parents and their neurodivergent kids thrive"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BlogPosting","datePublished":"2025-11-14T00:00:00.000-05:00","description":"A behind-the-scenes look at how Hilla Katki and a team of experts at Understood.org are helping parents reduce the number and intensity of emotional outbursts in their neurodivergent kids.\n","headline":"Behind the Impact: Hilla Katki helps parents and their neurodivergent kids thrive","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://cdn-images.understood.org/ifcoor6xo6lf/4KExX3KzMFIMzNG6daTK7t/00f58094279432b65ef0ec721616fba6/10.25_-_Hilla_-_Behind_the_Impact_.png"},"url":"https://www.understood.org/en/blog/behind-the-impact-hilla-katki-helps-parents-and-their-neurodivergent-kids","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Understood Team","url":"https://www.understood.org/en/blog/authors/understood-team","image":"https://cdn-images.understood.org/ifcoor6xo6lf/2Me1UtWz90PotlzjOMscvc/c768bb8e92b66a7608fec1ca5f9e322f/Blog_v3.svg"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.understood.org/#organization","name":"Understood for All Inc","logo":"https://cdn-images.understood.org/p0qf7j048i0q/307jFAYQevghG8nQMCjh89/ccdbbec895765824db43f6d30b496e83/logo_lockup_navy.jpg"}}] ```