Adiabatic approximations to few-body models of nuclear scattering are described with emphasis on reactions with deuterons and halo nuclei (frozen halo approximation) as projectiles. The different ways the approximation should be implemented in a consistent theory of elastic scattering, stripping and break-up are explained and the conditions for the theory's validity are briefly discussed. A formalism which links few-body models and the underlying many-body system is outlined and the connection between the adiabatic and CDCC methods is reviewed .