SCARBOROUGH, Maine -- David Bouchard is, without a doubt, looking forward to graduating from high school next month.
He says so with wide eyes and a big smile even before he types Y-E-S on his DynaVox, a hand-held communication device tethered to his belt.
Debbie Bouchard, on the other hand, is starting to dread the end of her son's public school career. After years of special education programs to prepare the Arundel man for work and life in the community, David Bouchard -- and other young adults with autism across the state -- may have nowhere to go but home.
The generation of children who experienced the first wave of an ongoing autism epidemic is now reaching adulthood. Public support programs that used to provide continuing education and care for virtually all adults with development disabilities now have hundreds of Mainers are on waiting lists that are expected to keep growing.
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