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?
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. 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 will 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 nonprofit think tank devoted to studying the issues around adults with autism. because autism prevalence rates have more than doubled over the past 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
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.