Adapted books are a fun way to engage students in reading. They can be used with students who have mild to severe disabilities, including those with autism. Adapted books are made by taking a picture book and removing all of the words except 1-3 words per page. Students are then asked to create their own story based on what they see in the pictures.
These books are a fun and effective way to help students with disabilities develop their literacy skills. They can be used with any student, but they really shine when it comes to helping special education students learn about the world around them.
There are different shapes and sizes, but they usually have one thing in common: They incorporate pictures into the story text to depict events that happen or objects that are described. This helps students with disabilities understand what’s happening in the story without having to read every word on every page. That’s because pictures can help children with learning disabilities visualize what’s happening as they read through the book.
In addition to making it easier for kids with learning disabilities to understand what’s happening in stories, adapted books also give them an opportunity to express themselves creatively through their own artwork.
Further more, Adapted books are a great way to help children with special needs learn how to read. They can be used with children who have autism, Down syndrome, and other disabilities that make learning difficult. Adapted books are also helpful for children who are blind or have low vision.
Adapted books are a fun way to get kids involved with reading. They’re also a great way to help kids learn new words, practice skills like sequencing and summarizing, and develop their comprehension skills.
How to Create Adapted Books
Here’s how to make an adapted book:
- Choose a picture book that is just right for your child. This is important because you’ll be cutting up the book, so you want to make sure it’s one that won’t be too hard or too easy for them.
- Find pictures of things that match the story in the book—for example, if the story is about talking animals, find pictures of animals that are talking! You can use clip art or take photos yourself (you might have to crop some of them).
- Cut out each picture from the book and paste it on another piece of paper that has been folded in half vertically so it looks like a mini booklet (like this: ||||||||). Then staple each side together so your booklet looks like this: |||||||||
- Now read the story together with your child! As you’re reading it aloud, stop every few pages and ask questions like “What do you think will happen next?” or “Why do you think the animal says this?”
Adapted books can be used in many different ways:
1. Reading the words on each page with your child and pointing at the pictures as you read them.
2. Reading the words on each page while playing music on an ipod or a phone at the same time so that your child can listen to the story while reading along with you
3. Printing out the pages onto cardstock so that they’re more durable than regular paper
4. Using a desktop scanner or an online service like Snapfish or Shutterfly so that you can print out copies of each page separately and use them as flashcards or as part of a visual schedule (for example, having one card show up every Tuesday afternoon).