Transition Focus Of New Documentary On PBS

* My note: our vulnerable need and deserve more resources, even if you only look at it from
a practical economic view, best to invest early and fully.

By Michelle Diament

September 5, 2013

A documentary following a special-education teacher as she prepares her students with autism to leave high school and enter adult life is set for its national television debut.

The film “Best Kept Secret” examines the transition process through the eyes of teacher Janet Mino and her six students at John F. Kennedy High School in Newark, N.J. over the year-and-a-half prior to their graduation in the spring of 2012.

Teaching at an inner-city public school where students’ options after aging out are limited, Mino is determined to find opportunities for her students to succeed in the community so that they don’t become homebound, institutionalized or homeless after graduating.

Central to the story are Erik, the most high-functioning member of the class who dreams of working at Burger King; Quran whose father worries that the emphasis on education at school means he is not spending enough time learning basic life skills; and Robert who struggles with behavior and has a difficult home life leading him to miss class often.

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2013/09/05/transition-documentary-pbs/18658/