Meet the maker: Mum behind new app to make big difference

After her child was born at just 26 weeks and diagnosed with a condition, a loving mum invented an app to help kids at school.

Mum-of-two Bess O'Connor is launching a new app for primary accessible learning, after she was inspired by her son Eddison O'Connor.

Eddison O’Connor may only be nine-years-old, but his strength has been tested since the day he was born.

Entering the world at just 26 weeks old, it was a frightening time for parents Bess and Andrew O’Connor.

And while little Eddie came out the other side, his fight continues.

Diagnosed with Motor Dysgraphia, a rare condition that impacts the child’s fine motor and writing skills, Ms O’Connor decided to invent an app that could assist her son.

Now after two years of conducting research and working with an app developer to create a multifaceted program, the mother-of-two is just a few months shy of launching the PAL app.

“His first few weeks were spent in an oxygen tank and he lived through that, so I told myself all we had to do was make sure we gave him a decent education,” Ms O’Connor said.

Mum-of-two Bess O'Connor is launching a new app for primary accessible learning, after she was inspired by her son Eddison O'Connor.

With multiple purposes now built into the app, teachers will be able to use the program to monitor, mark and check work remotely, while parents will be able to access progress reports and show specialists.

“PAL was initially set out to build a better PDF editor for kids, but my husband and I discovered it could be so much more,” Ms O’Connor said.

“Eddie reads at an above-high school level, his reading and understanding of that content is exceptional and he’s very good with computers, but if he gets tested, he can’t write more than two sentences on a piece of paper.”

Ms O’Connor said once the app gets off the ground, she hopes to integrate more facets to assist children living with other disabilities and school administration teams.

The subscription-based service is expected to be finished by December and launched early next year.

And while it’s been an interesting journey for the Goondiwindi couple who are cotton farmers, their own experiences made them the perfect people to create the app.

“We’ve worked closely with Eddie’s teachers, specialists and school administrators to ensure we’re on the right track,” Ms O’Connor said.

“Being rural farmers, we’ve experienced what it’s like for kids to miss school because of the floods and now everyone knows what it’s like with Covid, so this app will also help in that way.

“We’ve got that real farmer mentality that no one is going to help us, so we’re just going to have to fix it ourselves.”

The subscription-based service will offer schools in the region a free trial for 90 days in a preliminary launch this year, before finalising pricing structures.

For more information, visit palapp.com.au.