OUR IMPACT

Giving caregivers their hours back, one breath at a time.

Raha Kids is an interactive breathing app that children play with a caregiver close by. While your child learns to calm big feelings through play, you get support at home, a clear view of their progress, and some of your week back.

Played together, under caregiver supervisionGrounded in published researchAligned with Qatar and global goals

Raha, a fluffy round blue character, waving hello

58%of families of autistic preschoolers say care needs have greatly affected their work

THE HOURS NOBODY COUNTS

Caregivers carry a second, unpaid job.

Helping a young child through big feelings, meltdowns and hard transitions takes real time, every single day, and it reshapes a family's working life. Research on young children shows how much.

58%

of families of autistic preschoolers (ages 3 to 6) said childcare needs had greatly affected their work decisions, compared with 9% of families of typically developing children.

Ou et al., 2015 [1]

52%

of those families had a parent quit or turn down a job because of childcare problems in the past year.

Ou et al., 2015 [1]

51%

of primary caregivers of autistic children aged 2 to 10 reported problems combining care with their daily activities.

ten Hoopen et al., 2020 [2]

1 in 87

children in Qatar is autistic, notably higher than the global average.

Alshaban et al., 2019 [3]

How Raha Kids helps you get time back

A calming skill of their own

Your child practises breathing patterns through play until they become second nature, so in a hard moment you are no longer the only calming tool in the house.

Played together, under your supervision

Raha Kids is designed to be used with a caregiver close by. Sessions are short, there are no ads and no chat, and you decide when and how your child plays.

Rewards that keep practice going

Children earn reward points, unlock badges and collect new surprises as they practise, and new breathing games arrive every month, so the habit lasts well beyond the first week.

Progress without paperwork

Progress is logged as your child plays, showing short-term impact session by session and long-term impact over time. No diary to keep, and something real to share at the next appointment.

About the hours. Our working model estimates that a child with their own calming routine could hand around 10 hours a week back to their caregiver. This is a modelled estimate, not yet a measured result. Our upcoming pilot is designed to measure it.

BACKED BY SCIENCE

Why interactive breathing through play works.

Raha Kids brings together two approaches that research already supports: controlled breathing, and games designed for children who think differently.

BREATHWORK

Breathing practice lowers stress and anxiety

A 2023 meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials in Scientific Reports found that breathwork significantly lowered stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms compared with control groups. The effects were small to medium. The trials involved adults, and the authors call for more high-quality studies.

12 trials · 785 participants [4]

For Raha Kids: every game is built around real breathing patterns, picked up by the microphone as your child plays.

SERIOUS GAMES

Games can build key skills in neurodivergent children

A 2024 systematic review in JMIR Serious Games looked at 16 studies of game-based programmes for children and young people, including autistic children and children with ADHD. It found improvements in attention, working memory and cognitive flexibility, while noting that many studies were small and lacked long-term follow-up.

16 studies · ages 3 to 22 [5]

For Raha Kids: breathing practice arrives as play children want to come back to, with rewards and new games every month.

PLAY AND FEELINGS

Play, in moderation, can support emotional regulation

A clinician-written guide from Southwest Health notes that gaming can reduce activity in the amygdala, the brain's fight-or-flight centre, which may lower stress and help with emotional regulation. It also stresses moderation, clear boundaries and parents staying involved.

General-audience article · 2025 [6]

For Raha Kids: short sessions, played with a caregiver nearby, with no ads and no chat.

An honest note. This research supports the approach Raha Kids is built on. It is not a clinical trial of Raha Kids itself. Our own early pilot was small and qualitative, and a larger, measured pilot is next. Raha Kids is a wellbeing app, not a medical device or a replacement for therapy.

ALIGNED WITH BIGGER GOALS

Part of a global and national movement.

Raha Kids is a small, everyday contribution to goals set by the United Nations, the State of Qatar and Qatar Foundation.

UN Sustainable Development Goals

SDG3

Good health and well-being

Target 3.4: promote mental health and well-being.

An everyday, playful tool for children's emotional well-being, starting young.

SDG5

Gender equality

Target 5.4: recognise and value unpaid care and domestic work.

Around the world, women carry most unpaid care work. By sharing the work of calming with the child, Raha Kids aims to lighten that load.

SDG10

Reduced inequalities

Target 10.2: promote the inclusion of all, irrespective of disability.

Built first for neurodivergent children, in Arabic as well as English, so more families are included from day one.

Qatar National Vision 2030

Qatar National Vision 2030 rests on four pillars. Raha Kids speaks to two of them: Human Development, which calls for better health care and a healthy, capable population, and Social Development, which calls for strong, cohesive families and the preservation of cultural heritage. A bilingual app that supports families at home, in a child's own language, serves both.

[8]

Qatar Foundation Autism Strategy 2025–2035

Launched in April 2025, Qatar Foundation's 10-year strategy works toward a more inclusive ecosystem for people with autism. Its targets for 2035 include:

50% improvement in family quality of life
25% reduction in the average age of diagnosis
50% more participation in higher education and employment
50% more QF-developed autism technologies and services

Raha Kids is aimed squarely at the first: family quality of life, measured in hours, sleep and calmer days.

Read the strategy ↗

Try Raha Kids with your child

The MVP is free on Google Play, in Arabic and English.

Download the MVP Back to home

SOURCES

References

Ou, J. J., Shi, L. J., Xun, G. L. et al. Employment and financial burden of families with preschool children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders in urban China: results from a descriptive study. BMC Psychiatry 15, 3 (2015). Children aged 3 to 6; 459 families of autistic children, with comparison groups. bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com
ten Hoopen, L. W., de Nijs, P. F. A., Duvekot, J. et al. Children with an autism spectrum disorder and their caregivers: capturing health-related and care-related quality of life. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 50, 263–277 (2020). Children aged 2 to 10 (mean 7.3), the Netherlands. link.springer.com
Alshaban, F. et al. Prevalence and correlates of autism spectrum disorder in Qatar: a national study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (2019).
Fincham, G. W., Strauss, C., Montero-Marin, J. & Cavanagh, K. Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: a meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials. Scientific Reports 13, 432 (2023). www.nature.com
Rodríguez Timaná, L. C. et al. Use of serious games in interventions of executive functions in neurodiverse children: systematic review. JMIR Serious Games 12, e59053 (2024). www.sciencedirect.com
Herber, V. The effects of video games on children. Southwest Health Behavioral Services (2025). www.southwesthealth.org
United Nations. Sustainable Development Goals 3, 5 and 10, targets 3.4, 5.4 and 10.2. sdgs.un.org
Government Communications Office, State of Qatar. Qatar National Vision 2030. www.gco.gov.qa
Qatar Foundation. QF launches 10-year strategy to advance support for people with autism (April 2025). www.qf.org.qa