Keyword Understanding 2.0

This application serves as a valuable resource within the realm of speech and language therapy, specifically targeting individuals requiring enhancement in sentence comprehension and following spoken or written instructions of escalating complexity. Its design aligns with the fundamental skills necessary for daily communication, including vocabulary knowledge, concept understanding, and auditory and reading processing abilities.

According to the Smart Speech Therapy blog, it is particularly beneficial for children with processing challenges who need to strengthen their ability to follow multi-faceted instructions involving embedded concepts.

Complementing this view, Speech Blog UK notes that children engaged with the app tend to remain highly interested, drawn by its vibrant, colorfully illustrated visuals that sustain their attention and facilitate instruction following.

The Speaking of Apps blog highlights its versatility, emphasizing that the app can be utilized for informal assessments, therapeutic interventions, and home practice. It also offers targeted activities to improve auditory attention and working memory for cognitive-communication objectives.

Keyword Understanding is a professional-grade tool designed to assess and develop comprehension of sentences and directives across a range of difficulty levels. Effective following of instructions in everyday contexts depends on vocabulary mastery, grasp of basic concepts such as size and color, and the capacity to process and retain auditory or visual information.

Intended users include:

• Parents
• Teachers
• Speech-language pathologists / Speech and language therapists
• Children with attention deficits or auditory processing difficulties
• Children experiencing receptive language delays, developmental language delays, or autism spectrum disorder
• Adults with mild to moderate aphasia resulting from stroke or traumatic brain injury
• Adults with cognitive-communication impairments post-brain injury

The app offers diverse comprehension activities such as:

1. Comprehension Check: Identifies specific comprehension breakdowns by assessing understanding of individual vocabulary items and basic concepts like size and color.
2. Object, Size & Color: Focuses on recognizing basic concepts and following one- and two-step directions increasing in difficulty.
3. Before & After: Develops understanding of temporal directions within sentences, such as "before" and "after" sequences.
4. First & Then: Enhances grasp of sequential instructions, emphasizing the order of actions using "first" and "then."

The language and cognitive skills targeted include vocabulary development, auditory comprehension, reading understanding, working memory, attention to detail, language processing skills, conceptual understanding of size and color, as well as temporal and sequential directions.

Features encompass three operational modes:

• Listening / Auditory Only: matches spoken instructions to images
• Reading Only: matches written instructions to images
• Listening and Reading: matches both spoken and written directions to images

The application allows users to:

• Select from a wide array of vocabulary items in different sizes and colors for extensive task variety
• Select levels of increasing difficulty in length and complexity
• Create individual user profiles for personalized tracking
• Automatically monitor correct versus incorrect responses per user
• Email detailed session summaries for progress review
• Select audio feedback preferences—correct responses only, incorrect responses only, or both

This application participates in the Aptus Speech Therapy Volume Purchase Program offering a 50% discount. Additional details on other available speech-language resources can be found on our website.