PrAACtically Martin Luther King Jr Day: AAC Learning Suggestions

Here in the US, the third Monday of January is designated as Martin Luther King Jr Day (MLK Day), where we honor the contributions of this slain civil rights leader. Schools across the country are reading about his life and legacy, and engaging in activities to honor his achievements. If you’re supporting young AAC learners, this provides a wonderful opportunity to build language skills. In today’s post, we share some ideas for books on this topic and some of the core words that can be highlighted while reading them and some additional vocabulary words that you may wish to incorporate. 

Core Words

• Pronouns: I, he, it
• Verbs: do, help, go, love, make, stop, talk, tell, walk, work 
• Descriptors: all, bad, big, black, different, good, right, same, some, white
• Nouns: day, man, father/dad, family, friend, school
• Other: no/not, now

Other Vocabulary Words: celebrate, dream, fair, honor, justice, protest

Suggested Books

• A Lesson from Martin Luther King, Jr. (Denise Lewis Patrick)
• A Picture Book of Martin Luther King Jr (David Adler)
• I am Martin Luther King, Jr. (Brad Meltzer)
• Martin Luther King Jr. (Kitson Jazynka)
• Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Doreen Rappaport)
• My Daddy, Martin Luther King, Jr. (Martin Luther King III)
• My First Biography: Martin Luther King Jr (Marion Dane Bauer)
• The Story of Martin Luther King Jr. (Johnny Ray Moore)
• Who Was Martin Luther King Jr.? (Bonnie Bader)

Do you have favorite ways of incorporating AAC learning during activities to honor Dr. King? We’d love to hear about them.