How to Make Adapted Books: A Step-by-Step Guide

Adapted books are one of the most effective tools in a special education classroom — and the good news is you don't have to buy every one. With a few basic supplies, you can make (or assemble printable) adapted books that are durable, reusable, and tailored to exactly the skills your students are working on. Here's how.

What you'll need

• Printed pages — a printable adapted book, or your own pages with a simple, repetitive sentence and a spot for a movable piece.
• A laminator and laminating pouches — the single best investment for durability. Laminate every page and piece.
• Velcro dots — the soft loop side on the page, the rough hook side on the movable pieces (just be consistent).
• Scissors — to cut out the movable picture cards.
• A binder ring or comb binding — to hold the pages together into a book.

Step by step

1. Print your book pages and the matching picture cards.
2. Laminate everything — pages and cards — so they stand up to daily use.
3. Cut out the picture cards.
4. Add Velcro — put one side of the dots on each page target, and the other side on the back of each movable card.
5. Bind the pages with a binder ring or comb so the book stays together and pages turn easily.
6. Store the movable pieces in a small bag attached to the back cover so nothing gets lost.

Tips that make them last

• Be consistent with your Velcro (always the same side on the pages) so pieces are interchangeable across books.
• Keep sentence frames short and repetitive so every student can participate.
• Start with one skill per book — a WH-question, a preposition, a core word.
• Make a few at a time in an assembly line — laminate, cut, and Velcro in batches.

Where to start

The fastest path is to start with ready-made printable books, so all you do is print, laminate, and Velcro. Browse hundreds of print-and-go adapted books here, or get unlimited access to the whole library at my membership site adaptedbooks.com. New to them? Read What Are Adapted Books? first.

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