Nylah, now a lively 8-year-old, had been thriving as a special education second-grader. But she is not getting the medicine she needs to help keep her from vomiting, because the Andersons can no longer afford the copay. Her special education classes are proving difficult to pull off on their aging home computer, which is prone to freezing, and Ms. Anderson is worried that her daughter is backsliding. The couple is trying to hide their anxiety from Nylah, but Ms. Anderson says her daughter senses it.

“She was at the door,” Ms. Anderson said, describing one of her sessions regrouping herself in her bathroom. “‘Mommy, are you OK?’"

Since her husband lost his job, Ms. Anderson has spent hours each day scouring Facebook sites where people are discussing their unemployment problems. People take screen shots of their phones: One woman’s screen shot showed hundreds of calls to the unemployment line. Another showed a 9-hour hold time.

The thought of the delay in her husband’s receiving benefits fills her with fury. The state emailed that an “adjudicator” would be assigned, but so far, no one has contacted him, and he has not been able to get through on the phone.

“What questions could you possibly ask,” she said in an exasperated voice. “He lost his job. Everybody did!”

Nevada offers 26 weeks of unemployment insurance and pays a maximum of $469 a week, which falls is in the middle of the pack nationally in the size and distribution of unemployment benefits, according to Michael Leachman, a policy expert at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

But like other states, Nevada has seen its unemployment offices swamped by the sudden surge of claims. The state hired a call-center firm to help. It also updated its website. But it is still trying to dig through the backlog.