for next year? reporter: eric s not in trouble. he has autism and by law. he must leave school when he turns 21 in a few months. but his dad, richard sadowsky, says eric s not done learning and he and mary are in a panic about what eric will do next. to abruptly end his time here is not a good idea for him. reporter: eric has been a student at the rebecca school for the past five years. it s a private school dedicated to providing specialized support like speech and occupational therapy to children with developmental disabilities. it s a place where he s understood and he s cared about. he loves the teachers. he s very, very attached to them. the rebecca school is like a family to him. reporter: it s expensive too, $100,000 a year. after some costly legal wrangling, eric s parents got the public school district to pick up the tab. that s because federal law says states are obligated to educate children through high school. for those with special needs, that usually means up t
watched it straight for four hours. reporter: and nick has another common autistic trait, severe obsessive compulsive disorder. reporter: i saw him walking through a room. and he walked only on the edge of the room. he s developed a very, we call it choreography. it could take him two hours sometimes to cross a room. it s painful to watch. reporter: nick needs individual attention that s hard to provide in a classroom. so his local school district sends aides to work with him one-on-one at home. but like eric, nick s 21st birthday is around the corner. they ll both abruptly lose the services that have helped them come so far. is it cruel to offer something and then have it taken away? but it s even crueler not to offer it in the first place. and i don t know what the answer is.
and in 40 some odd weeks from now, we re gonna find out. reporter: the burden of caring for eric and nick will fall almost entirely on their families especially on their mothers and you re about to see what happens as they prepare for that life changing moment. reporter: in a sign of just how much progress nick has made his family is able to take him to his favorite place on earth, disneyworld. i think it s a cause for celebration, because he s come such a long way. reporter: but will nick, and eric s progress continue without help? without purposeful things to do he will fall back into the autism world. k. at work. and after work. he does it all with dr. scholl s. only dr. scholl s has massaging gel insoles that provide all-day comfort. to keep him feeling more energized. dr. scholl s. born to move.
is not a good idea for him. reporter: eric has been a student at the rebecca school for the past five years. it s a private school dedicated to providing specialized support like speech and occupational therapy to children with developmental disabilities. it s a place where he s understood and he s cared about. he loves the teachers. he s very, very attached to them. the rebecca school is like a family to him. reporter: it s expensive too, $100,000 a year. after some costly legal wrangling, eric s parents got the public school district to pick up the tab. that s because federal law says states are obligated to educate children through high school. for those with special needs, that usually means up to age 21. ready, set go! without purposeful things to do, he will fall back into the 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
teachers and friends to stimulate his language skills, eric is already losing some of the speech he gained in school. so she can t sit in a sofa. circle. sofa or circle? circle. so he, so she can t sit in a so, in a circle. in a circle. he s sleeping 12, 13 hours. kind of drifting in and out of his room, singing to himself a lot. from a distance, there talking to himself a lot, really regressing into his own world. a lot of withdrawal. reporter: eric s mother has explored free day programs offered by the state known as dayhabs. she didn t like what she saw. what did you see? i saw rooms full of people with their heads on the tables, wandering around, just being in storage. they re just sitting in a room. reporter: dateline took