Adapted books for students with special needs are incredible tools that have long been used in the special education classroom. I’m so excited about the possibilities of using them to teach something else- about God and the Bible.

If you are curious about how to use adapted books for discipleship- click here for a free guide and adapted book!

If you’ve just purchased an adapted book from the Awe & Wonder shop and now you’re wondering how to assemble it, you’re in the right spot.

There are several ways to assemble adapted books.

Be sure to read through all of the steps before starting, there are a few notes at the end that you’ll want to be aware of before binding.

Print & Bind Options

1) print and staple

This is the easiest and quickest way to assemble your resource. If you are using the book for a one-time, print-and-go activity, or need to print it to give to parents as a take-home resource, I’d recommend using this assembly method. This method will not work with moveable pieces, so you’d want to just print and staple when you don’t intend to use interactive pieces.

2) Print, laminate, and bind with circle rings

I really love this method to bind adapted books! No expensive tools are required and you can assemble quickly!

I recommend using a thermal laminator to laminate each page before binding.

According to the size of the book, you can use two or three-hole punches and then add the rings. Circle rings come in different sizes- the sizes seen here are 1-inch rings, but 1/2 inch would be better for shorter books. If you are using a lot of velcro and movable pieces, 1-inch rings will help give you more room as the book expands.

You can find all of my recommendations for laminators, hole punches, and rings here.

3) print, laminate, and bind with a comb binder

If you have access to a comb binding machine this is a great option for assembling adapted books. If you’re interested in investing in one- affordable options start at around $50. This was my go-to method for assembly in my special education classroom because the previous teacher in my classroom left one behind. It’s a great finished look and easy to do yourself if you have the right tools.

I recommend laminating with a thermal laminator before binding.

This video gives you a quick look at how a comb binder works. I have found that with laminated pages, it works best to hole-punch one page at a time.

Once you have added the comb binding to your book, you are ready to go, or to add your interactive pieces if needed.

If you do not have access to a comb binding machine, Staples or other office supply stores can assemble this for you for a few dollars. I recommend laminating yourself, office supply stores normally charge $1+ per page to laminate.

One note for comb binding that I have found to be an issue- If you like to fold the book pages back around to the back of the book instead of laying flat on a surface, sometimes the laminated pages will pop out of the binding, especially if you are using is a smaller comb bind spine.

4) print, laminate, and coil bind

Another great option for assembly is using coil binding. Coil-binding machines are not quite as economical (starting at $150 for a machine), so you are probably less likely to have one of these available to you. But Staples and other office supply stores can coil bind for you for a few dollars.

Again, I recommend laminating with a thermal laminator yourself before taking the book to be coil bound.

Add Interactive Pieces

If your adapted book has interactive, movable pieces you’ll need to now print, laminate, and cut those pieces. I always include the adapted pieces at the end of the adapted book/resource in my shop on a separate page. If you are going to be using a storage page for the pieces, you’ll need to print two copies of the interactive pieces. One will be laminated and bound with the book, and one will be used for cutting apart the actual pieces.

Cutting Tips:

In my classroom, I was always on team “cut pieces before laminating, laminating, and then cutting again” because I thought that would be the most durable. But what I’ve since learned from many other SPED teachers is that it works just as well to laminate first and then cut out the pieces, which saves you a ton of time! I have tried it myself and so far so good! My classroom aides would have loved for me to discover this revelation years ago. :)

When possible, I like to use a paper cutter instead of scissors to cut apart interactive pieces.

Velcro Tips:

I have a couple of recommendations for you when it comes to velcro.

1) Get the velcro dots. You might think that you’ll get the Velcro strips and just cut them apart into smaller pieces because it’s cheaper. Nope, you don’t want to do that, trust me, friend! :) It will ruin your scissors and your hand will hurt from cutting them up and you’ll wish you went with the velcro dots, It’s 100% worth any extra costs to go with the velcro dots. Velcro brand is great, but I have found other brands to work well also. I’ve got some linked on my recommended products page.

2) Always place the rough side of the velcro on the movable pieces and the soft side on the page. This allows you to use visual cards and interactive pieces across resources as needed. I like to use the saying “soft on surface, hard on card” to remind me which one goes where.

I recommend using white velcro dots because the black or colored ones will show through white paper.

Utilize a Storage Page

At the back of the book, you can use a second copy of the pieces as a storage page. This is where you can keep all of the pieces when they are not in use and you don’t have to worry about keeping up with a bag of pieces, etc. for each book.

For some books, you may want the pieces more easily accessible to the child during reading so they are not flipping back and forth to the back of the book to retrieve a piece. You can either remove all the needed pieces before reading and lay them on a table, etc. beside where you are reading or you can add a second binding to make a flippable storage page. Here’s a picture to show what I mean: