What do authors Patrick White, George Bernard Shaw and T.S. Eliot have in common with a little boy from south western Sydney with cerebral palsy? All of them have valued highly the act of writing their thoughts on paper as a means to share their worlds with others.

Mathew O, 9, who attends Harrington Park Public School, may not be a Nobel Prize laureate in literature just yet, but he joined the world of authors recently when he was given a keyboard for his laptop with big, bright keys, the kind that are easy to tap.

Teacher Romina Maione says the technology has enabled him to express his thoughts more easily. Previously, this had been a frustrating and exhausting process for him because he was unable to hit keys accurately, leading to his work being incomplete or sometimes even accidentally deleted.

“By being able to put his thoughts down on paper, he can complete similar activities to his peers,” Miss Maione says. For example, if the rest of Mathew’s peers are discussing their writing work in class, he can now join in and share his ideas.

Before, he would have only been able to sit and listen.

“He’s contributing more, he’s having that success – it’s allowing him to achieve and progress in lots of areas,” Miss Maione says.

Cerebral palsy is a condition from birth that affects the way the brain controls the muscles of the body. Mathew, who has attended mainstream classes since starting school, says having the ‘big key’ keyboard has helped in all of his subjects including spelling, science and maths.

“I use a laptop and I type on it and I use it for work and I use it for science,” he says. “I do my work and print it out and put it into my book. I do my spelling words – whenever I get some more spelling words I try and finish [them] before I go on to the other work.”

Mathew has additional support provided by Julie Marks, a teachers aide (special).

Over the past year and half, Mrs Marks says his progress has been driving his enthusiasm for his lessons.

“He is writing a lot more even with his sentences, they’re more complex,” she says. “He’s getting more involved with it.”