Comparison

Articulation IV vs Reading Skills 4A

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Articulation IV

Features
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Speech Therapy for school and home practice! Articulation IV has four of the most common articulation targets—R, S, L, and Th–in the Initial, Medial, Final positions and in Consonant Clusters. Buttons on the screen let you listen to the word, the sounds in the word, a short phrase containing the word, and three sentences. Sentence 1 may add another of the same target. Sentence 2 includes at least 2 of the same target sound and usually is a longer sentence. Sentence 3 likely has multiple target sounds (R, S, L, and/or Th) and will be semantically complex. A clear speech model is presented for the child to imitate and they can record and play back their own speech. The clinician can choose from three scoring methods. 1. Score each response as correct, distorted or incorrect. 2. Score responses as correct, distorted, substituted, or omitted. 3. Score productions based on whether they are spontaneously correct/incorrect or imitatively correct/incorrect. New vocabulary includes words not commonly found in yesterday’s word lists but necessary for today's classroom success such as: compost, awesome, LOL, USB port, browser, search engine, etc. Sort the words by target sound and position. You'll find curriculum-based words including: computer-related words, math, time & measurement, emotions, food, music, sports and games etc… This app uses the content from LocuTour’s Articulation IV CD. There are 475 words and photographs. There are: 85 words in /r/, 189 words in vowel controlled /r/, 212 words in /s/, /z/, 117 words in /l/, 49 words in voiced/voiceless /th/. Words may be in multiple phoneme groups.

About

Reading Skills 4A

Features
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Do you know how a rainbow is made? Have you ever wondered how a snake sheds it skin? How do turkey vultures help people? What makes a kite fly? Reading Skills 4A is a collection of nonfiction passages with interactive learning activities, written by children's author Marne Ventura, M.A. and developed by Fred Ventura, Ph.D., as part of the Reading Skills Series published by Ventura Educational Systems. Understanding informational text is essential to literacy. To help young readers develop this skill, twelve fun, high-interest passages about snakes, vultures, forces of flight, and more, written at the fourth grade reading level, are presented: * Chasing Rainbows * New Skin for Snakes * Bird Watching Journal Entry * The Water-Saving Plant * Turkey Vultures * The California Poppy * Banana Smoothie * The Four Forces of Flight * Flour Power * A Transparent Invention * Thirsty? * Superhero Soap Each passage is followed by three engaging activities based on the following Common Core Standards for Grade 4 Language Arts: • comprehension • vocabulary • main idea and supporting details • drawing conclusions • making inferences • summarizing • synonyms and antonyms • multiple meanings words • fact vs. opinion • genre • author's purpose • compare and contrast • text features The Reading Skills 4A follow-up activities for each of the 12 passages are described below: Word Fun - a clue is given along with the scrambled letters of a vocabulary word from the passage. The challenge is to unscramble the letters to spell the word. Fact Check - helps improve recall and comprehension. Students read a statement and tap either True or False based on the contents of the passage. Skills Practice - Students practice reading comprehension skills by answering multiple choice questions. A record-keeping component keeps track of the student’s scores on all of the activities.

Screenshots

Articulation IV4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Reading Skills 4A at $2.99 against Articulation IV's $9.99. Articulation IV's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Articulation IV costs $9.99 and Reading Skills 4A $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Articulation IV ships an update every 9 months, Reading Skills 4A every 17 months. Both last shipped on October 26, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 4 level
Articulation IV versus Reading Skills 4A: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterArticulation IVReading Skills 4A
Price$9.99$2.99 — better
Update frequencyEvery 9 months — betterEvery 17 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPad
Requires iOS12.012.0
Further details — not scored
Size275 MB30 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLearning Fundamentals, Inc.Ventura Educational Systems

In-app purchases

None

Articulation IV

No in-app purchases

None

Reading Skills 4A

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Articulation IV free?
Articulation IV costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Reading Skills 4A free?
Reading Skills 4A costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Articulation IV or Reading Skills 4A have ads?
Neither Articulation IV nor Reading Skills 4A shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Articulation IV or Reading Skills 4A?
Articulation IV ships an update every 9 months, and Reading Skills 4A every 17 months. Most recently, Articulation IV was updated on October 26, 2026 and Reading Skills 4A on October 26, 2026.

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