What is an adaptive or an interactive book? Some people use these two words interchangeably and some people see them as separate things. However you see it, they are both a type of book designed for special education, speech therapy, or young children.
Here are my definitions:
Adaptive Book: An adaptive book is a book that has been well.....adapted! This might mean that there are adaptive sentences with picture representation (picture symbols) underneath the words or that it simply a book that targets more functional vocabulary for specific learning objectives. You can also adapt an already published book (any book in a classroom) by adding picture symbol strips to the pages with simplified vocabulary/sentences.
Interactive Book: An interactive book generally has some type of interactive quality to it. You may be matching picture symbols to pictures in the book, answering questions in the story with picture symbols, lifting a flap, or some other activity based thing. There are tons of interactive books already published (with pop outs, spinners, flaps, ect..) and there are also a TON of great ones available on Teachers Pay Teachers.
I have found many of the books I buy can be considered both interactive AND adaptive! :)
I wanted to share some of my FAVORITE adaptive and interactive books that I use in therapy weekly. All of my books I purchased through TPT and they were made by myself, other speech pathologists, or special education specialists! I love this because these sellers are out there creating materials specific for what I do! I am going to highlight my top 3 free and top 3 paid! (Click on the titles or pictures to view them). Also check out how I store my books (on this book shelf and on hooks on the wall).
FREE
Shopping with Dougy by Panda Speech: This book is adapted (has picture sentence strips on the pages) and interactive (interactive pieces to move around the pages). This book is great for functional vocabulary and expanding language skills. It is FREE on TPT but there are also FREE comprehension pages available on this blog post ------> CLICK HERE
The In Book by Ms. Gardenia's Speech Room: This is an interactive book that teacher the positional vocabulary IN in an engaging way. Students play the kids inside objects (there are slots in the book for them to actually go in). She attaches the interactive pieces to a ribbon (that is tied to the top book ring) which adds another fun element.
Positional Vocabulary: Easter by Ms. Gardenia's Speech Room: This is an interactive book that teacher the positional vocabulary IN/OUT and also can be used to teach WHAT/WHERE questions.
PAID
Jacob's Book Collection: A Lift-a-Flap book by Panda Speech: This book is interactive and adaptive because it has liftable flaps & pictures to move around on the pages and picture sentence strips. This one also comes with mini no-prep "My Bug Book" to learn facts about insects. This is just one of over 24 books like this in my TPT store. Each book comes with a picture supported comprehension worksheet and bonus coloring activities. (They are displayed in the picture at the top of this post on the hooks). These books are great for increasing MLU, yes/no questions, and thematic vocabulary. Jacob's Bug Collection is my favorite! I pair it with sensory bin activities (Click here to get free sensory bin printable by Ms. Gardenia's Speech Room pictured below).
What's Bugging You? by Autism Helper: She has these labeled as adapted but they are interactive too. She has a whole series of "bugging" books available. I like them because they have the picture symbol sentence strips and the students get to place bugs on real life pictures.
Basic Concepts: Positions An Adaptive and Interactive Book by Panda Speech: This is one book in a series of four that teach basic concepts in an interactive and adaptive way. These books have both moveable pieces and picture sentence strips. These books are wonderful for teaching the concepts, expanding utterances, and functional vocabulary. Click here to see the bundle which includes Colors, Positions, Shapes, and Sizes
