Diagnosed at age 3 with autism, Weber, now 19, wouldn't mentally develop past the level of an 18-month-old, doctors told his parents. They also told the parents they might want to find an institution in which Erik could spend his life.

K.C. ALFRED / Union-Tribune Erik Weber, with his mother, Sandy, graduated from Grossmont College last month with an associate's degree. Erik was diagnosed with autism when he was 3. Profile: Erik Weber Erik Weber was 3 when he was diagnosed with autism. At that point, doctors did not expect him to mentally develop past the level of an 18-month-old. With the help of his mother and late father, Weber developed far past what was expected of him. He graduated from high school at San Diego's Excelsior Academy in 2006 with a grade-point average of 3.68 and scored 1,540 on his SAT and 24 on his ACT. On June 5, the 19-year-old graduated from Grossmont College with an associate-of-arts degree in general studies and 3.89 GPA. In his spare time, Weber enjoys following NASCAR and uses a spreadsheet to operate a fantasy league based on the performance of the drivers. He also runs, lifts weights and plays chess and video games.

Last month, however, Erik graduated not from elementary or high school, but from Grossmont College in El Cajon. His mother, Sandy Weber, graduated as well.

Erik and Sandy, 60, started with physical-education classes – ballroom dance, weight training, tai chi – before moving on to academics. Sometimes she would be in the same room as Erik; sometimes she would be in another part of the building taking her own class. Sandy says she wanted to make him feel comfortable because change can be unnerving for autistic people.

“It's about creating a comfort zone and transitioning to a different environment,” she said.

Soon it became apparent Erik could handle classes on his own, with the help of large-print and audio books.

Although Sandy already had a bachelor's degree and a doctorate, she earned an associate's degree in international business. Erik has an associate's degree in general education, and he has already started classes at Point Loma Nazarene University to complete a bachelor's degree. They live in the Redwood Village neighborhood of San Diego.

“I never imagined when he was in kindergarten that that was a possibility,” said Mary Lou Evans, his kindergarten teacher and an expert in autism.

The 16 years between being diagnosed as a person who would mentally function as a 1½-year-old and graduating with an associate's degree were not easy for Erik or his family. And there was no moment where he suddenly became “better,” Sandy said. Instead, there were small improvements over time.

When Erik was 4 or 5, his mother suffered broken ribs trying to take him out of a grocery store shopping cart. That was during what Sandy and Erik refer to as his “nonverbal years.”

“He was a screamer, a scrapper, a fighter,” Sandy said.

It's common for children with autism to have difficulty communicating with others, and Erik was no exception. Though he tried to communicate, his sounds came out as grunts and squawks. Erik also had a common autistic trait called tactile defensiveness, which caused many sensations of touch to be uncomfortable. Scratchy tags on clothing often irritate people. For Erik, entire articles of clothing felt irritating.

“It's a tough world for a parent of a child with autism, and Erik was not easy,” Evans said.

Autism facts Autism is group of brain development disorders often marked by difficulty with social interaction, repetitive and obsessive behavior, and difficulty with verbal and nonverbal communication. These afflictions range from mild to severely disabling.  There is no cure for autism, but it can be treated with medication, educational and behavioral training and other therapies. The cause of autism has not been conclusively proved, but preliminary research has led researchers to believe genetics play a large role.  Studies of how frequently autism occurs have varied widely. Researchers believed for decades that between four and five children out of 10,000 were autistic. Research done by the group within the past 10 years has concluded that about one in 150 American children – about 67 out of 10,000 – is autistic. It is unclear how much of that increase is due to better identification of the disorder or by an increase in how often it occurs. Sources: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Instead of looking for an institution, however, Sandy and her late husband, Richard, looked for ways to make Erik better. Sandy had studied cardiac medicine in the 1970s, and she had seen damaged hearts undergo self-alteration to compensate for their deficiencies. She hoped Erik's brain might do the same.

“My theory was the heart can't be the only organ that does that,” she said.

When he was born in 1988, Erik seemed normal to his parents. As he grew into a toddler, he muttered single words like others his age. But then in the winter of 1990, Erik got a fever and his language skills stopped developing. Instead of words, he made nonsensical noises and screamed, his mother said.

On Christmas Eve 1991, the Webers were told that Erik was autistic. He didn't speak a word after that until early 1992, when doctors were trying to perform brain tests on him that involved attaching electrodes to his scalp to measure electrical activity. Erik kicked and screamed while doctors tried to perform brain tests. He had to be strapped to a gurney.

“It was torture for him, and all of a sudden, he screamed, 'Mom!' ” Sandy said. “That's a heck of a way to get a word out of a kid, to put him under extreme duress.”

The Webers put Erik in programs to help his speech. Some worked; others didn't. At home, they tried to stimulate him with books, videos, cars and trains. They tried whatever they could think of to draw him out of the inner world of his autism, or as Sandy said, “turn his lights on.”

Disney's “Little Mermaid” worked, as did “Thomas the Tank Engine,” a children's book character from the 1940s. He watched NASCAR races with his father and loved it. Flags were an effective tool to calm him with a familiar object when he was in an unfamiliar place. Erik soon started speaking in incomplete sentences such as, “Go store.”

“I looked for windows of opportunity,” Sandy said. “If something would capture his attention, I would pursue that thread to see if I could make a connection.”

At age 8, Erik was just becoming verbal when his father, who ran an import-export business, died suddenly on a business trip in Turkey. The death was both an emotional and financial blow to the family. Erik has since written a book about about his father and is looking for a publisher.

Between the book, earning an associate's degree and Excelsior, however, Erik considers the latter his biggest achievement. The school describes itself as an institution for students with “learning differences,” and both Erik and Sandy believe it was formative in his development.

“It's wonderful. It's the best thing I ever accomplished,” Erik said. “The teacher-student ratio was small, so I got the attention I needed.”

With high school and an associate's degree on his résumé, Erik now has his sights set on a bachelor's degree from Point Loma Nazarene. After that, he might continue his education even further.

“I think one of the options that's open for me is law school,” he said. “I could write briefs for other lawyers who do presentations in court.”

Alan Schnepf is a San Diego freelance writer.