Straight talk with Bianca Salinas

[MUSIC PLAYING] PRESENTER: Hi, my name is Bianca Salinas. I have a son that is 12 years old named Gabriel Salinas on the autism spectrum. My biggest fear about going into public education was him being bullied and the staff neglecting him. Fortunately, that was far from the case. And we are at a place now where they call and check on him all the time. And we have formed wonderful relationships. The relationship between you and the school is just like a marriage. You have to compromise. It was a big challenge, especially with the ones that are standoffish. There was times where we were told no a lot, or we got the ugly looks. But we never gave up. And we showed up every single day. And we made sure we even brought them cookies if we needed to-- asked them what they needed to help my child succeed. I encourage you to be open-minded. And I understand you're going to be emotional, angry, sad, happy. We're going to go through the different stages of grief. Believe me, I've been there, and you will also have to go through that grief. But in the long run, I promise you, you're going to love the progress that comes on top. [MUSIC PLAYING]