Best Kept Secret Page #3

---

I know you need a break.

Waaaah.

You gotta get moving.

Stand up, move!

You're all tight, tight.

Loosen up!

Yeah, there you go!

Shake out your fingers.

Shake it out!

Shake out those fingers.

Shake 'em out!

There you go!

What are we learning

about today?

Oprah Winfrey!

Oprah Winfrey.

Very good, and who did we learn

about yesterday?

President...

O...

Obama.

Very good! And then who did we

learn about Monday?

Monday.

-Martin...

-Martin Luther King.

Yaaay!

"Conversational partners

often elicit verbal language

by prompting Erik.

His ability to respond properly

is improving,"

and I've seen that

from last year.

"Erik has been able

to meet the goals,

answering simple WH questions,

although repetition of

the questions may be required

to minimize echolalic

responses."

Okay, so that's his overall

speech information.

Can you tell me some things

he's doing at home now?

Well, his goals this year

is to make his bed

with maybe one verbal prompt,

to make his bed every day.

We are visiting different sites

for after graduation.

I just know they have

so much in them,

and I just don't want them to go

to a place and be forgotten

and just go robotic,

you know what I mean?

WOMAN:
Not like one of those

state programs, just come in

and sit till 5:
00,

eat your lunch, go home.

None of the students,

the young adults,

in that type of place,

right, Erik?

Yes, Mino.

We've got to find a place

that fits you, right, Erik?

Yes.

After graduation,

I see Erik working, as long as

he has a job coach.

-I'm good with that.

-Okay.

WOMAN:
One thing I saw,

that his mother wanted

that they might be together?

Do you have any information

on that?

No one has told me anything.

For a while, he wasn't seeing

his mother 'cause she was sick.

Really ill, and she didn't

want him

to see her in that condition,

but she's improved

and now they're starting

to let him visit again.

But I don't know what

the future is.

They don't tell me.

Hi.

Hey!

Yeah, come over here.

Stop going for the food first.

How you been?

Fine.

Let me see your mustache?

Ooh, you got a thick mustache

this time.

What do you do for the dang

camera besides coloring?

I color.

You want to color

or do a picture?

Color.

Okay.

You do that.

He was taken while I was

in the hospital

and that was 2006,

when I had my first surgery

on my foot.

He was at the apartment with

my mother and his older brother.

The older brother was

doing things

that he shouldn't

have been doing.

The all-night parties

and, you know, all the people

coming in and out

all times at night,

that type of thing,

while Erik was there.

And at the time,

the case worker came by and saw

everything that was going on.

So he came to the hospital.

He thinks Erik should be removed

from that situation.

I can see the caseworker's point

about Erik being in jeopardy.

And that's when he took him.

That's when he first went

into foster care.

He didn't like it, but I was

trying to do the best thing

for Erik, but I didn't want Erik

to be in jeopardy.

I regret getting sick

like I did.

I mean, this guy has been

with me ever since he was born.

And to have him taken

like that...

it's tough and hard

for me to get over.

What color is

that fallen flower?

ERIK:
Yellow.

I was looking at that talk box,

what do you call it?

I don't see how you carry around

something that bulky.

MINO:
No, no, this is how

you teach them.

But then it goes into

"tap to talk."

Quran has a cell phone, so he

wouldn't carry this around.

He would use his cell phone.

And then the phone, whatever he

types in, would say it.

-Okay.

-Then he would hear that.

it would reinforce

the language again.

-And you customize it.

-Hmm.

MINO:
The way Quran would talk,

or how we talk.

MAN:
How we talk.

[Laughter]

Our lingo.

Our lingo,

you know what I'm saying?

"Yo, man, can I get

three of those?"

[Laughter]

-Had a good day?

-Yeah.

Did you say, "See you later,

Ms. Mino"?

[Speaking indistinctly]

MINO:
What?!

-Miss who?

Who's that?

[Speaking indistinctly]

What did you say?

See you later...

Look at nose.

Look at nose.

Mm-hmm.

[Indistinctly]

See you later...

-What?!

-See you later...

What's my name?

Miss...

Mino.

Okay, see you later.

And make him do it hisself.

MAN:
Which way you go, Quran?

WOMAN:
You dropped something

on the floor.

Good morning, Matthew.

How are you?

I'm fine.

Would you like to say hi

to a friend?

Choose one -- who are you going

to say hi to?

Kareem?

Hello.

What do you say?

Say, "Hi, Matthew."

Hi, Matthew.

Rahamid, what do you like

to play with?

I want to play with a ball.

-You like playing with a ball.

-Yes.

What do you do with the ball?

I want to play with a ball.

MINO, LAUGHING:

You like that, huh?

[Laughter]

Robert.

Come here.

Let's try you on this.

Type this on here.

Type that.

You've got to look at

the word "hope."

Robert's been absent 62 times.

And if you miss a day

with Robert,

it's like starting

all over again.

Robert. Type.

Stop it. Let's go. Type.

[Car alarm beeps]

[Cell phone rings]

Uh, I was diagnosed

September the 9th

with colon cancer.

Robert is with his mother,

and his mother is

attending to him now,

'cause the doctor said,

"The first time you get

the chemo,

it's going to make you

kind of sick."

But, uh...

I don't trust his mother.

His mother's not really stable.

She don't have no house

of her own.

His mother's on drugs.

She don't have no income.

What is it, 209?

Or 206?

Down the corridor this way.

-Okay?

-Uh-huh.

Thank you.

Um... you all need a will.

You need a living will.

What if something happens

to you

and your child is disabled,

and what's going to happen

to that child?

You have to have everything down

in writing.

WOMAN:
Are you familiar with how

to do a proposal?

-Yeah, you just say...

-A proposal?

That has to be done

in February or October.

Why? Because that's their rules

and regulations.

How do you apply

for anything

if they don't tell you, if you

don't have the information?

No, 'cause you always

have to contact them

and say, "This is what

I want to apply for."

You have to always

contact them.

It's messed up.

You cannot let nothing slide

with them, honey,

'cause they will not return

your call or anything else.

Sometimes go down there

and look 'em in the face,

eye to eye,

and they'll do something.

WOMAN:
You have to have chemo

for two days a week?

-No, have to have chemo...

-Just two days?

For six months.

So... Don't look at me

like that, don't do that.

-No, I'm not.

-I don't want that look.

It's a concern, though.

Go ahead.

Okay. After that gets set up

and we get stable with that,

I think I'm going to go

and get Robert

and bring him back home,

but the doctor wanted to make

sure that I'd be okay.

Robert -- when is he coming

back to school, though?

I'm going to call my sister

up tonight

and I'm going to let her know

that she have to call the bus

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes