and lenore can t find one. ok. when you re ready. reporter: lenore has taken nick for interviews at a number of agencies that provide social workers. but none of them have agreed to take his case. to raise an autistic child you almost, you can t you can t do it without the help. and right now um, i don t know how we re gonna do it. i don t know what kinda life he s gonna have because we re looking at a really barren landscape for him. i don t think i ve ever been more terrified than i am right now. reporter: autism advocate linda walder says government programs aren t designed for adults with autism. the problem is, is that system is really broken. it s dated. it s not addressing the needs of adults and the growing population of adults living with autism. reporter: it s not addressing the reality we have now.
i really need these people and i can t have them anymore. reporter: as an adult, eric will be eligible for social security. and he ll be able to apply for services funded by medicaid. but his parents have been warned that those programs will not be tailored to autism or build on the skills eric has mastered at the rebecca school. we just can t cut off educating and teaching and supporting people when they age out of their school program. reporter: linda walder is the executive director of the daniel jordan fiddle foundation a non profit think-tank devoted to studying the issues around adults with autism. because autism prevalence rates have more than doubled over the last decade, she says an estimated half a million young people with autism will age out in the next ten years. and it s a tsunami of children who are aging to adult life. do you stop having autism when you turn 21?
worker. and lenore can t find one. ok. when you re ready. reporter: lenore has taken nick for interviews at a number of agencies that provide social workers. but none of them have agreed to take his case. to raise an autistic child you almost, you can t you can t do it without the help. and right now um, i don t know how we re gonna do it. i don t know what kinda life he s gonna have because we re looking at a really barren landscape for him. i don t think i ve ever been more terrified than i am right now. reporter: autism advocate linda walder says government programs aren t designed for adults with autism. the problem is, is that system is really broken. it s dated. it s not addressing the needs of adults and the growing population of adults living with autism. reporter: it s not addressing
can t have them anymore. reporter: as an adult, eric will be eligible for social security. and he ll be able to apply for services funded by medicaid. but his parents have been warned that those programs will not be tailored to autism or build on the skills eric has mastered at the rebecca school. we just can t cut off educating and teaching and supporting people when they age out of their school program. reporter: linda walder is the executive director of the daniel jordan fiddle foundation a non profit think-tank devoted to studying the issues around adults with autism. because autism prevalence rates have more than doubled over the last decade, she says an estimated half a million young people with autism will age out in the next ten years. and it s a tsunami of children who are aging to adult life. do you stop having autism when you turn 21?
autism world, into his own inner world. he s so much happier out of it. but that s where his brain takes him. it s hard. i really need these people and i can t have them anymore. reporter: as an adult, eric will be eligible for social security. and he ll be able to apply for services funded by medicaid. but his parents have been warned that those programs will not be tailored to autism or build on the skills eric has mastered at the rebecca school. we just can t cut off educating and teaching and supporting people when they age out of their school program. reporter: linda walder is the executive director of the daniel jordan fiddle foundation a non profit think-tank devoted to studying the issues around adults with autism. because autism prevalence rates have more than doubled over the last decade, she says an estimated half a million young people with autism will age out in the next ten years.