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Through, the state requires anyone receiving services to have a social worker, and lenor can t find one. when you are ready. reporter: lenor 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 can t you can t do it without the help, and right now i don t know how we re going to do it. i don t know what kind of life he is going to have because we re looking at a really barron landscape for him. i don t think i ve ever been more terrified than i am right now. reporter: autism advocate linda walter says government programs aren t designed for adults with autism. the system is really broken. it s dated. it s not addressing the needs of adults in the growing population ....
Take his case, and after three months on the wait list, he is approved for that self-determination program. lenor now has state medicaid money to hire a support team for nick, including some familiar faces, like his former teacher holly. the team that comes to help him helps me do better for him because when they are here, they meet his needs. you can breathe. they carry him. i get to sit back as mom and go you go, guy. like, look. you can do it. i don t know what s bothering you today. reporter: here s something that may seem odd that makes nick s mom proud. he is crying. expressing emotion like this has always been a challenge for him. when he cries, there s a little happy dance going on from my side because he didn t do it before. he does it now, which means i bet there s a lot more that he didn t do before that s going to happen. and we re ready. reporter: but lenor can t sit ....
Before special education students like nick graduate, federal law says they must have something called a transition plan created by their school districts. it s supposed to be a set of measurable goals designed to prepare young people for adult life. nick s mom, lenor, hasn t received anything, so she and her husband, mike, call the school superintendent to complain. i have no transition plan, and the clock is ticking, which is why i said to you i m fearful that we re just delayingnd delaying here, and nicolas s needs are not being met. good job, nick. excellent doing it together, bud. reporter: lenor begins making frantic calls herself trying to get nick hooked up with an agency that could provide him with adult services. put that on the list of things to do. here we are right on the brink, and i didn t know how to make it gel. the whole system just didn t make any sense at all. and there s no instruction ....
Documenting the upheaval in their lives as their special needs sons reach 21 and their school programs abruptly ended. what would the future hold for these young men? here s kate snow. reporter: a month after nick s graduation his mom lenor is flipping through his appointment calendar. it s where she keeps track of his meetings with teachers and other care givers, and it s empty. there s nothing left. reporter: lenor is on her own. what are those first weeks like? i remember pulling the shades, turning on the air conditioner, and saying, okay, buddy, it s just me and you. reporter: as the weeks going on, lenor is watching her son regress before her eyes. his personality did. his willingness to interact dimmed because there s less practice. there s less to do. there s less opportunity. it s like it s literally dimming the lights. reporter: nick has been on a waiting list for government money to pay for the at home services his mom really wants, but there s a catch. even ....