How to Prep Adapted Books for Special Education

I love making interactive / adapted books for my students! By giving students something tangible to interact with on each page, you promote engagement and can check for comprehension through out the story. 

Interactive / Adapted Books also give students a clear purpose for reading books if they don't see the value in reading yet. You can adapt the current books you have in your classroom by adding symbols or you can print and create your own books! Here's the steps I go through when putting together adapted books that I have printed.

(I've added amazon affiliate links below for your convenience. If you choose to purchase through these links, it costs the same for you and I will receive a small percentage of the sale) 

First, you will want to laminate the pages for durability and so that you can add Velcro later. I use this laminator and 3 mil sheets for most of the pages, but I will use 5 mil for the bottom page and the interactive pieces.

Next, you will need to punch holes in order to bind your book together! You can use a hole punch and binder rings OR you can use a binding machine like the ProClick below.

You just have to slide the top across and, boom, you have a beautiful line of holes :)

Next, insert a spiral coil through the holes. I like to keep everything together by clipping the pages together with a binder clip so that the holes don't move around.

Just cut off the extra coil with a normal scissors.

Then, add Velcro to the appropriate spaces in the book. Make sure you use opposite Velcro pieces to the book pages and the backs of the pieces. For this book I used hard Velcro on the pages and soft Velcro on the pieces. I did it this way because the hard Velcro is clearer, and this way students can match the pieces to the bottom page if they are matching to the same picture, instead of the page on the book.

And there you have it, a beautifully binded adapted / interactive book!

Check out this Facebook Live video to see how I put together an adapted book in real life! :)

Looking for some adapted books? Grab these recipes books (as shown) here, these community sign books here, and check out all of my adapted books here in my TpT store!