There are so many reasons I love using books with young children. Books give us opportunities to build connection, explore new ideas, introduce vocabulary, model communication, and sometimes just laugh together over a really good story.
But traditional story time can ask children to do a LOT.
Think about everything that can be wrapped up in one simple direction to âlisten to the story.â A child may be expected to sit with the group, look toward the book, listen to the words, follow the pictures, process the language, stay with the story, and then answer questions about what they just heard.
For some autistic preschoolers, that's a lot of demands wrapped up in something we think of as a simple classroom activity.
That's one reason I've used adapted books and visual supports for years. We aren't changing the story or deciding a child isn't ready for books. We're giving children more ways to understand what's happening, interact with the story, and participate in ways that work for them. And sometimes a few simple visuals can completely change the way a child connects with a book.
What Is an Adapted Book?
An adapted book pairs a children's book with visual or hands-on supports that give children additional ways to understand and interact with the story. Adaptations might include matching visuals, story pieces, communication supports, sequencing activities, or simple hands-on extensions.
The actual book is still at the center of the experience. We're simply thinking about what we can add around it to make the story more accessible.
For one child, that might mean having a visual they can hold while you read. Another child might enjoy finding a matching picture as something appears in the story. Someone else may use the visuals to communicate about what they're seeing, while another child might be much more interested in acting out the story with the pieces afterward.
Those are all meaningful ways to engage with a book.
If adapted books are brand new to you, I have an entire post about what adapted books are and how you can make them. It's a great place to start with the basics before diving into some of the different ways we can use them.
Why Are Visual Supports Helpful During Story Time?
Visual supports give autistic preschoolers another way to access information about the characters, vocabulary, actions, and events in a story without relying only on spoken language. They can also give children more ways to participate during shared reading.
Think about how quickly spoken language disappears. We say the word, and it's gone. A picture stays.
That little difference can be incredibly helpful for a child who benefits from additional processing time or visual information. Instead of expecting a child to keep up with every word we're saying, we can pair some of that language with something they can see, hold, match, or revisit.
Take Room on the Broom, for example. There are a lot of characters and events happening throughout that story. Having visuals for the witch, cat, dog, bird, frog, broom, and other important pieces gives us another way to bring those parts of the story to life.
A child might match a character as it appears, hold the corresponding visual, use a visual to communicate about the story, or simply explore the pieces while listening.
We're not adding the visuals so we can quiz them afterward. We're adding another pathway into the story.
How Can I Make an Adapted Book More Hands-On?
Adapted books can become more hands-on by adding simple activities that connect directly to the characters, vocabulary, or events in the story. Matching, sensory play, sequencing, fine motor activities, and story props can all extend the book without turning reading into a worksheet.
This is where we can have some fun.
With Room on the Broom, for example, you could use character pieces to retell parts of the story or place the characters onto a simple broom as they're introduced. You might pair the story with a related coloring or fine motor activity, use the visuals during play, or bring them back out later when the child wants to revisit the story.
And the activity doesn't have to look the same for every child. One child may put all of the characters onto the broom in story order. Another might spend ten minutes playing with the frog.
The frog wins.
That's okay.
The goal isn't to make sure every child demonstrates comprehension in exactly the same way. We're creating opportunities to interact with the story and then paying attention to how each child chooses to engage.
How Can Adapted Books Support Communication?
Adapted books create natural opportunities to model communication by pairing familiar stories with meaningful words, visuals, actions, and repeated experiences. Adults can model spoken language, gestures, signs, or AAC without requiring the child to imitate or respond.
Books naturally give us so much to communicate about. We can talk about what we see, what a character is doing, where something went, whether we want more, when something is all done, or what might happen next.
And we don't have to turn those opportunities into a series of questions.
Instead of asking, âWhat is this?â every time you turn the page, you might simply model, âI see the frog!â If the witch flies away, you could model GO. When another character climbs onto the broom, maybe ON makes sense.
For children who use AAC, we can model those words on their communication system as they naturally occur in the story. There is no expectation that the child has to select the same word after us.
We're showing children that communication has meaning within something we're experiencing together.
Can Adapted Books Be Used With Seasonal Preschool Themes?
Yes. Seasonal adapted books can connect shared reading with classroom themes throughout the year while giving autistic preschoolers consistent visual and hands-on supports as the topics and stories change.
This is one of my favorite ways to use adapted books because preschool classrooms naturally move through so many themes throughout the year.
In the fall, a book like Little Acorn can connect beautifully with conversations and activities around trees, squirrels, acorns, growth, and the changing seasons. You can bring some of those same ideas into sensory play, counting, matching, fine motor activities, or even outdoor exploration.
And when Halloween rolls around, Room on the Broom gives us opportunities to explore characters, actions, sequencing, communication, and plenty of playful extensions without needing the entire activity to become about Halloween.
Then the season changes again.
Winter books can pair with themes such as snow, Arctic animals, winter clothing, or holidays. Spring books can help us explore weather, plants, animals, and new growth. Other books can connect with transportation, community helpers, animals, food, emotions, routines, and so many of the themes already happening in preschool classrooms.
That's what makes building a collection of adapted books so useful. You're not looking for one perfect book that works all year. You're creating a familiar way of supporting access to books, even as the stories and classroom themes change.
Adapted books can also take us beyond traditional literacy activities. In this Autism Little Learners podcast episode about adapted books for science and social studies, Dawn Ellis and I talk more about using books to make those curriculum areas accessible for autistic learners.
Do Adapted Books Have to Be Used During Circle Time?
No. Adapted books can be used during whole-group story time, small groups, one-on-one learning, play, independent exploration, or other parts of the preschool day. The best setting depends on the child and what makes the book most accessible and enjoyable for them.
This is important because sometimes we put so much pressure on circle time.
If a child isn't engaging with a book during whole group, that doesn't automatically mean they aren't interested in the book or can't learn from it. There may simply be too much happening in that environment.
Try the same book during a quieter part of the day. Put the book and its visuals into a cozy reading area. Explore it one-on-one. Bring the story pieces into play. Read three pages today and come back to it tomorrow.
You don't have to finish the book just because you opened it.
Sometimes three pages with a child who is connected, interested, and engaged are far more meaningful than getting through an entire book because we feel like we're supposed to finish it.
Follow the child, not the page count. If they're ready to move on, that's okay. You can come back to the book later, pick up somewhere else, or discover that today they were much more interested in one character than the story itself.
The goal isn't to finish the book. The goal is to create an accessible, meaningful experience with it.
Sometimes giving children more flexibility in when and how they interact with a story creates a completely different experience.
What Should I Consider When Adapting a Book for an Autistic Preschooler?
Start with the individual child rather than trying to add every possible adaptation to the book. Consider their communication, interests, sensory preferences, regulation, motor skills, and the amount of visual information that helps them access the story.
More support isn't automatically better support.
One child may love having every character available as a story piece. For another child, that many visuals may feel like too much information at once. You might offer only two or three pieces or wait to introduce each one until it appears in the story.
The same goes for activities. Matching may give one child a meaningful way to participate, while another child wants to move the characters around and create their own version of the story.
We don't need to turn every book into a task. Start with connection. Give the child another way into the story and see what happens.
What Is the Autism Little Learners Adapted Book Library?
The Autism Little Learners Adapted Book Library is a growing collection of visual supports and hands-on activities created to pair with popular children's books and make shared reading more accessible for young autistic children.
And this is really where all of this comes together.
Over the years, I've created supports for books I was already using with young autistic children. Instead of starting from scratch every time I pulled out a seasonal favorite, I wanted visuals and activities ready to help more children connect with the story.
That collection kept growing.
Today, the Adapted Book Library includes supports for books you can use across the school year, from seasonal stories to familiar preschool favorites. New books continue to be added, too, including Little Acorn and Room on the Broom.
Depending on the book, you may find visual supports, matching activities, story pieces, communication supports, fine motor extensions, or other hands-on ways to extend the story beyond simply reading the words on the page.
But I don't want the goal to become doing all the activities. Choose what helps the child in front of you access and enjoy the story. Sometimes that's an adapted activity. Sometimes it's one little picture of a frog. And sometimes it's simply sitting together with a really good book.
Making Books More Accessible Doesn't Mean Making Them More Complicated
When we talk about adapting books, it can sound like I'm giving you another thing to prep.
That's the opposite of what I want.
Start with a book you're already reading. Think about where a child might benefit from another way to access the story, and add support there. Maybe that's a visual. Or perhaps it's a character to hold. It could even be a simple matching activity or a prop that helps bring the story into play.
You don't need every child to use every support, and you don't need to turn story time into another lesson they have to complete. The book gives us a place to start. The adaptations simply give more children a way in.
If Adapted Books Would Be Helpful in Your Classroom
You don't have to create all of these supports from scratch. Over the years, I've created adapted materials to go along with many of the books you're probably already reading in your classroom, and that collection continues to grow.
You'll find seasonal favorites, familiar preschool books, visual supports, and hands-on activities inside the Adapted Book Library. It's ALSO included in the Autism Little Learners Membership, so if you're already a member, be sure to take a look and see what's there before you start creating something yourself. And if you're not a member but would like to learn more, you can take a peek here.
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