Comparison

HearBuilder Sequencing vs Keyword Understanding

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

Head to head
About

HearBuilder Sequencing

This educational app helps children develop sequencing skills through interactive activities and games. It offers customizable levels and progress tracking for multiple students, progressing from simple 2-step sequences to more complex 6-step tasks.

Highlights
  • Illustrated sequencing activities
  • Progressive difficulty levels (2-6 steps)
  • Reward arcade games
  • Progress monitoring and data tracking
  • Customizable settings and reports
  • Audio and text options
Features
Read full description

The award-winning, research and evidence-based software program is now an iPad app! Hearbuilder Sequencing includes the Sequencing Funhouse. First, click the door of the Sequencing Funhouse to practice sequencing activities. Then play a reward game in the arcade. Finally become a Sequencing Superstar! HearBuilder Sequencing features 120 illustrated sequences for targeting comprehension and critical thinking. Start out with simple 2-step sequences and gradually progress to 6 steps! Take a FREE tour and choose your level of play. If you have an online subscription to HearBuilder and a student login, you can access the entire program. HearBuilder Sequencing includes multiple levels of difficulty and 14 different settings variations to target the individual needs of each student. To play, students place events of an everyday activity in a logical order. All you have to do is: 1.Choose a task—either Sequence Stories or Sequence Instructions. 2.Then choose to Show Pictures, Play Audio, and/or Show Text—Turn any of the options on or off to change your treatment goals. 3.Set the range of steps in a sequence (2–6 steps). 4.Click Play Game and ask each student to place the cards in the correct order. When students complete a level with 80% accuracy, they will get to choose 1 of 4 games to play in the arcade. HearBuilder Sequencing allows you to: •Monitor progress and track data for an unlimited number of students. •Individualize each student program. •Set levels of difficulty for each activity. •Add background noise at any level and adjust the volume for each student. •Customize and print reports. •Analyze all responses.

About

Keyword Understanding

This app helps users of all ages improve their ability to understand spoken and written directions. It features various activities targeting vocabulary, basic concepts, and sequential instructions, making it beneficial for individuals with listening comprehension or processing difficulties.

Highlights
  • Follow spoken and written directions
  • Improve vocabulary and basic concepts
  • Target auditory attention and working memory
  • Activities for one and two-step directions
  • Temporal and sequential direction practice
  • Comprehension check for vocabulary and concepts
Features
Read full description

“This app is great for children with processing difficulties which need to improve their ability to follow directions with a variety of embedded concepts.” ~ Smart Speech Therapy blog “Every child I have used it with has been very engaged by the lovely, brightly-colored pictures, and has quite happily kept on listening and following the instructions.” ~ Speech Blog UK “It can be used for informal assessments, language therapy and home practice. It can also be used to target auditory attention and working memory for cognitive-communication goals.” ~ Speaking of Apps blog Keyword Understanding is a professional speech and language therapy app that targets the ability to understand sentences and follow spoken and written directions of increasing difficulty. Children and adults are asked to follow directions in their everyday lives. In order to follow directions, the child or adult requires a strong knowledge of vocabulary, basic concepts and the ability to process and retain the information they have listened to or read. WHO IS KEYWORD UNDERSTANDING FOR? - Parents - Teachers - Speech language pathologists / Speech and language therapists - Children with reduced attention and listening comprehension or auditory processing difficulties  - Children with receptive language delay, developmental language delay or autism - Adults with mild to moderate aphasia due to stroke or traumatic brain injury - Adults with cognitive-communication difficulties due to stroke or traumatic brain injury  WHAT COMPREHENSION ACTIVITIES ARE INCLUDED IN KEYWORD UNDERSTANDING? Comprehension Check: This activity helps you identify where comprehension breaks down. It checks the understanding of individual vocabulary items, and the basic concepts of size and color. Object, Size & Color: This activity works on the understanding of the basic concepts of size and color as well as the ability to follow one and two-step directions of increasing difficulty. 2 keyword level: Touch the green car 3 keyword level: Touch the big red mug 4 keyword level: Touch the green vase and the yellow cushion 6 keyword level: Touch the small pink gloves and the big blue comb Before & After: This activity works on the ability to understand and follow temporal directions (directions which include the concepts before/after in a variety of positions in the sentence). “Before you touch the t-shirt, touch the phone” “After you touch the lamp, touch the vase”, “Touch the flower before you touch the box”, “Touch the sock after you touch the bucket”. First & Then: This activity works on the ability to understand and follow sequential directions (directions which include the concepts first/then in the sentence). “First touch the ladder, then touch the bike”.  WHAT LANGUAGE & COGNITIVE SKILLS DOES KEYWORD UNDERSTANDING TARGET? - Vocabulary - Listening / Auditory Comprehension - Reading Comprehension - Working Memory - Attention to Detail - Language Processing - Basic Concepts / Adjectives (size, color) - Temporal Directions (Before/After) - Sequential Directions (First… Then)  FEATURES 3 modes: - Listening/ Auditory Only: Match the spoken direction to the picture(s) - Reading Only: Match the written direction to the picture(s) - Listening and Reading: Match the spoken and written directions to the picture(s) Keyword Understanding lets you: - Choose from a variety of vocabulary items in different sizes and five different colors allowing for thousands of following directions tasks - Follow directions of increasing difficulty and length - Add individual user profiles - Automatically track correct and incorrect responses of each user - Email a detailed result summary after a session or at a later date - Receive audio feedback for correct answers only, incorrect answers only or both All Aptus Speech Therapy apps participate in the 50% off Volume Purchase Program.  Visit our website for more details about our other speech and language therapy apps.

Screenshots

HearBuilder Sequencing1 screens
Keyword Understanding4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: HearBuilder Sequencing at Free against Keyword Understanding's $17.99. HearBuilder Sequencing also leads on update cadence (every 3 months vs every 10 months) and ratings volume (17 vs 3). Keyword Understanding's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 2.9). On review sentiment, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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

HearBuilder Sequencing is free to download; Keyword Understanding costs $17.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Keyword Understanding holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: HearBuilder Sequencing has 17 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 22% of HearBuilder Sequencing's written reviews are positive against 25% of Keyword Understanding's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

HearBuilder Sequencing ships an update every 3 months, Keyword Understanding every 10 months. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
HearBuilder Sequencing versus Keyword Understanding: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHearBuilder SequencingKeyword Understanding
PriceFree — better$17.99
Rating2.9 (17 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews22.2% of reviews25.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings17 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 10 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supported — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size328 MB64 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSuper Duper PublicationsAptus Speech and Language Therapy Limited

Customer experience

HearBuilder Sequencing

All ratings17 ratings
Positive41.2%
Neutral5.9%
Negative52.9%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive22.2%
Neutral0.0%
Negative77.8%

Keyword Understanding

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive25.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative75.0%

In-app purchases

None

HearBuilder Sequencing

No in-app purchases

None

Keyword Understanding

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is HearBuilder Sequencing free?
HearBuilder Sequencing is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Keyword Understanding free?
Keyword Understanding costs $17.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, HearBuilder Sequencing or Keyword Understanding?
Keyword Understanding is rated higher. HearBuilder Sequencing averages 2.9 out of 5 from 17 ratings, while Keyword Understanding averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do HearBuilder Sequencing or Keyword Understanding have ads?
Neither HearBuilder Sequencing nor Keyword Understanding shows ads.
Which is updated more often, HearBuilder Sequencing or Keyword Understanding?
HearBuilder Sequencing ships an update every 3 months, and Keyword Understanding every 10 months. Most recently, HearBuilder Sequencing was updated on September 27, 2026 and Keyword Understanding on October 8, 2026.

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