hospitalized, lenore calls an agency that provides services for nick, begging for help. lenore feels like once again, she s on her own. that s all i can do is hope and keep my fingers crossed. and work with him minute by minute. minute by minute. some days are truly minute by minute. you re thinking about the shawnee hotel, yes? yeah. reporter: after months of lobbying state administrators and looking for loopholes, she manages to piece back together some of nick s support team. over muffins and coffee one recent weekend, lenore brings them back up to speed on nick. we know now he s not wrong, he s just him. but he needs supports from us to be ok with being him. reporter: lenore knows nick will always need a lot of help. but she also knows he can still participate in his community. we join nick and his team members as they recycle bottles and cans that nick collects. wow. $1.25, $1.45, 25, 35, i m not
easy as we can for both of them. since the report first aired in 2015, both new york and florida have added millions of dollars in additional state aid to serve people with developmental disabilities and provide more services. the families of eric and nick gave us an update. they are facing challenges and financial struggles in caring for their sons. they say one more thing remains constant. they are determined to raise awareness of what parents of children with autism deal within the hope it helps others. it will not get better until parents get together and force change. it s the most important thing you can do for your kid. all the times that people told us he would never well, he is. all of the things they said he can t and he won t well, he
he s made so much progress that his family decides to take their nick, we re in disney! this is a big deal. it s a big deal for our whole family. we all want to go home and talk about it. reporter: nick s older sister tasha says she s proud of her brother. it s a cause for celebration because he s come such a long she s proud of her brother. it is a quest for celebration because he has come such a long way. and he s a typical as i would love for him to be. even as nick s confidence is growing, he may not know what is about to happen when he turns 21. his family knows and can t help but worry. what are you most afraid of? pulling that plug. his world is going to collapse.
there s another unexpected change. your husband s job is shifting to florida. yeah. yeah. why the deep intake of breath? because that s a big scary thing. that s a big scary thing. with lenore working part-time, the family relies on mike s income. they decide to take a scouting trip to florida to find out if nick can get the same support there. we went to medicaid. we went to providers and asked questions. dateline is with lenore on her florida visit where agencies are candid about how little they have to offer. they allow her conversations to be recorded. we have a long waiting list. can you give me an idea. 22,000 people on the waiting list. that s a reality check.
go to thbiggest publicrt fairs in new york city. i am really proud of you. this is a big show and it s really special. his art is on the walls and it s for sale. very proud of you. he is really a gifted artist and i see really good things coming out of this. i m so pleased. i just think he does have a chance at a life away from me. this is a new beginning for him. for lenore, she says it is hard to imagine a day when she won t be managing her son s life. she knows when that day comes, the responsibility will fall to nick s sister. what happens when are you yot there for him anymore? i m terrified for him and my daughter. i pray that they find people in their lives to help them through that and find a way to make it