Robot-assisted graduation success
Student with rare Type One SMA, attending school via robot, proudly graduates in person
Aaron Erin Phelps walked across a graduation stage at Rodriguez High School in Fairfield, California, on June 5, 2026 — in person, for the first time in his academic life. KCRA 3 reported the milestone for a student who spent years attending class through a telepresence robot, kept alive by an experimental drug that doctors said gave him a 90% chance of dying before age two.
Aaron, now 18, was born with Type 1 Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) — a rare genetic disease that destroys motor neurons and causes total muscle failure. Before modern treatments existed, nearly all babies with SMA Type 1 died before their second birthday. Aaron is part of the first generation to survive into adulthood, thanks to an early clinical drug trial that changed everything, according to WBAL News.
A Mother's Research Kept Aaron Alive Past One
When Aaron was just two months old, his mother, Dr. Meri Stratton-Phelps, noticed he was unusually weak at a routine checkup in Davis, California. Doctors diagnosed him with SMA Type 1 and told her he would almost certainly die before age two. "They told you your son was going to die? Absolutely, without question," she recalled, according to KCRA 3.
Dr. Stratton-Phelps, a trained veterinarian and researcher, did not accept that outcome. She tracked down scientists at Stanford University and the University of Utah. She enrolled Aaron in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial for an experimental drug — the same compound later approved by the FDA in 2016 as Spinraza, according to WBAL News. Aaron became one of the first infants in the world to survive past his first birthday because of it.
A Robot Became His Classroom for Years
Because Aaron could not safely attend school in person — respiratory infections pose a serious risk to SMA patients — he joined class through a telepresence robot. The small wheeled device carries a screen that shows his face and streams video of the room back to him at home. Rodriguez High School in the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District became an early adopter of the technology, according to WGAL.
Aaron said the COVID-19 pandemic actually brought him a sense of relief. "During COVID, everybody went to school the way I do, and I didn't feel so alone," he said, according to KCCI. For once, his classmates understood what his daily school experience felt like. The school's approach is built around a simple idea: technology is a bridge, not a barrier.
In-Person Diploma Caps a Landmark Journey
On June 5, Aaron crossed the stage at Rodriguez High School to collect his diploma in person — something no one predicted he would live to do. The moment went viral across the San Francisco Bay Area, according to WCVB. Disability advocates and educators praised the graduation as proof that early medical intervention and smart school policy can give severely ill children a full life.
Aaron is now one of the oldest living survivors from the original trial generation of SMA Type 1 patients — a group whose long-term survival gives doctors their first real data on what a full life with early Spinraza treatment looks like, according to WLKY. SMA affects roughly 1 in 10,000 births worldwide. Before 2016, no approved treatment existed.
Aaron Plans a Future in Film and Disability Visibility
After graduation, Aaron plans to focus on filmmaking. He already made an award-winning documentary called "My Life with SMA," which has drawn interest from international film festivals, according to KOAT. His story has also pushed the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District to consider building a permanent fleet of telepresence robots for other immunocompromised students.
Some disability advocates note that Aaron's survival depended heavily on his mother's rare mix of medical training and research connections. "Not every family has those resources," Disability Rights California has pointed out. But educators say the "Phelps-Erin model" — combining early drug access with in-school robot technology — should now be the standard, not the exception, according to WGAL.
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