Best Kept Secret Page #7

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Good morning, Ms. Mino.

How are you?

-I'm fine.

QURAN:
I'm fine.

MINO:
Good job.

Now ask me, Quran.

How are you?

I'm fine.

Thanks for asking.

That was excellent,

Quran.

Look, I'm going to teach you

something while we're here.

These are your words, you gotta

learn how to do this.

Mom, I am hungry.

You're hungry?

What you wanna eat?

MINO:
Okay, go back.

-I want dinner.

-Dinner.

You want some dinner?

Okay.

So it takes a while

to become a habit.

Pretty soon it's going to be

so natural, like da-da-da,

and he's going to repeat it,

too.

And then maybe it enhances

some language,

and they may not need it

one day.

Welcome. It's so wonderful

to have you all here.

What I want to see

for each child

is to fulfill their

God-given capability

to its maximum potential.

And with the belief that every

child in the autism spectrum has

the ability to do so, and how do

we help you accomplish that?

Thank you for having me.

My name is Janet Mino.

I'm a school teacher

in Newark Public Schools.

I'm in the inner city.

I listen to everybody talk about

the different things they offer,

but yet the inner city,

where I work,

we're not getting this

information.

I'm also working with young

adults who are aging out

and I've been looking for

two years for different places

for my young adults to go to,

and we did have a success.

Erik Taylor, he's working at

Burger King and he's so happy.

This is something

that he wanted.

MAN:
Ready to go to work, Erik?

-Yes.

-All right, good, let's go.

Let's go.

WOMAN:
Erik is great.

He's outgoing.

He comes and says good morning

to everybody.

We all love him.

And I would love to have Erik

work here permanently.

MINO:
I'm going to ask you

to identify

the different coins, okay?

Robert, how many quarters

are in a dollar?

Four, good job, Robert.

Give me a high-five or no?

Yeah?

Okay, guys, here we go.

Is this a walk-a-thon?

-No.

-What's this?

This is your neighborhood, guys.

You can speak to people.

Okay, look at the price.

How much is this?

You give him one quarter.

And look, you have this,

and you put it in your pocket.

Good!

Very good, guys.

Don't be scared.

Don't

be scared.

It's good, see?

It's only water.

MINO:
Robert, I just think

he's just sad.

There you go, see?

MINO:
I just think he's sad.

Good work.

When somebody's hurting...

and they can't express to you

why...

um...

it's just hard to call sometime.

Robert...

ROBERT, INDISTINCTLY:

"...a spring lamb.

Home again..."

Good job.

How did you just

switch off so quick?

Hello?

Do you want to finish this?

I don't know what Robert's

future is going to be.

Birchwood is a safe place

for him.

He seemed to love it.

Um...

It's sad because Robert has

a lot of potential.

I don't know.

All right.

Toilet.

-Toilet.

-Yes.

-Toilet.

-All right, that's enough.

Urinal.

The urinal.

-Great job, Erik.

-Great job.

Ms. Mino asked me to come back

like once a week.

Just on Mondays because

the manager was saying

that Erik was not doing

his job.

He would stop and just wipe

the table just one time

and just stay in one spot.

-Now what do you do?

-Mop.

The manager and the other

crew members had to, you know,

"Erik, you have to do your job.

Come on, you have to keep up.

You have to wash the table, you

got to wipe the windows down."

So Ms. Mino asked me

to come up here

to make sure Erik

is back on track.

Gloves off.

In order for Erik to continue

to work at Burger King,

he would just need once a week

for someone to assist him.

MINO:
You got to realize,

after Erik leaves here,

he's out of my control.

Whether they're going

to give him a job coach

or anything like that,

it's up to the state

and his mom

to request that service.

Awesome.

So there's only a few of us that

still ain't made our minds up.

You know, hey,

I'm a choosey mama.

I'm a choosey

mama.

That's okay.

I understand as a parent,

you look and you're trying to

find the right niche and say,

"Okay, this is the place,

I feel good about this."

You guys have to come down

and bring a decision.

Or they're gonna be home.

That's the thing for it.

We don't want them home.

I have to be realistic

about what's out there.

Excellent.

And there we go.

MINO:
You have to just make

a choice

until something better

comes out.

Simon says do this.

Simon says do this.

Simon says

do this.

MAN:
I-24.

MINO:
You want everything to be

the way it is in your classroom,

but it's not.

MAN:
Okay!

MINO:
I just wish I had

a place for all of them.

That you could appreciate

their differences

but help them develop more

socially.

Mm-hmm.

But treat them like adults

and have it fun.

Right, 'cause you're looking at

it from a teacher's perspective.

No, I'm not.

I was looking at it then as,

if this was my kid,

would I want them to come.

Yeah, but they're going to be

okay, Mino.

I know you're worried and

committed to them having success

and guess what, there's nothing

that we can do

beyond what you've already done.

They may or may not regress, but

you have to kind of let it go.

You really do.

I feel that they will do fine,

and I'm going to

keep that positive perspective

that they're going to do fine.

I've done social work

long enough

where I really had to learn

how to let go.

Wow!

You look handsome!

[Chuckles]

Look at this!

Oh, I like!

Nice! Turn around.

You got a haircut, too?

WOMAN:
Mino, look!

MINO:
Oh, let me see.

WOMAN:
Look at this.

Hi.

That's nice!

Wow!

Erik!

I don't have any makeup.

-Wait, Erik.

-Wait, Erik.

Look at you!

Turn around!

Ugh.

WOMAN:
Oh, right.

WOMAN:
Okay, okay, that's it.

Now, here we go.

Oh, boy.

-Hey.

-How you doing today?

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

The parents get

as much as the kids.

MINO:
Hey, Robert!

You, come here!

WOMAN:
He made it.

Look at this.

Here.

There, look at the shoes!

I like!

I'm praying that Linda

will be here

because it would be really sad

if everybody got somebody here

and Robert don't at the end.

Carina, you're in back

of Robert Casper.

You're in back of her.

-Yes.

-Erik.

Erik, come out of line a minute.

You're in the wrong spot anyway.

Misme.

Don't be nervous.

This is your day.

Forget about

the people, this is your day.

Good morning and welcome

to John F. Kennedy School,

the best kept secret

in Newark.

Graduation ceremony for

the class of 2012.

[Cheering]

[Band playing]

Everyone please rise.

["Pomp and Circumstance"

plays]

Give 'em a hand.

Always when we come

to a graduation,

we know that it

is the ending of something

but it also the beginning

of another chapter in

the lives of our young people.

Families, you must always,

always advocate for your

children.

And fight for what

is out there

that they deserve.

Do not sit back and let

anyone tell you

what they cannot do.

We always thrive on what

their abilities are,

not what their disabilities are.

And our next guest speaker

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