Unlike most 17 year olds, Matt Galligan makes his football picks by moving his eyes. Flanked by Boston College football player Haven Perkins and BC student, Kyle Novellano, Matt concentrates on moving the cursor across a large projected computer screen toward his chosen team. Some of the people around him protest, unhappy with the teams he has picked. Matt just laughs; a major sports fan, his team loyalties are firm and he won’t be swayed by the peer pressure around him.

This is a typical scene from one of Matt’s EagleEyes sessions at Boston College. Matt, a veteran EagleEyes user, has been coming to BC twice a week for the past 6 years. His two undergraduate “Buddies,”-Kristin Naizar and Sharif Tai work with Matt regularly to help with the equipment and facilitate the session. Additionally, BC students Haven Perkins and Kyle Novellano have also recently become involved.

During his time with EagleEyes, Matt has made measurable progress in math, reading and spelling. More recently, he’s completed several courses through Barnes & Noble’s On-line University, including two history courses: “Pearl Harbor” and “Personalities of the Founding Fathers.” Matt has an insatiable appetite for geography and also excels in math, despite having to do calculations entirely in his head.

In a recent interview with Sharif Tai, one of Matt’s EagleEyes Buddies who has been working with Matt over the past year, Sharif describes Matt’s attitude: “The best thing about working with Matt is how much he lights up when he scores well on a test or nails 10 out of 10 aliens. He has a huge smile and a terrific laugh. He always seems to be in a good mood and I look forward to seeing him every week.”

In addition to expanding academic horizons, Matt is also expanding social ones. Through the Internet and the Barnes & Noble On-line courses, Matt has communicated and shared ideas with people as far as Brazil.

“ Matt’s first encounter with EagleEyes was nothing less than instantaneous enthusiasm,” reports Cindi Galligan, Matt’s mom, who is also never far from the scene. Since that first day, she has seen her son make a lot of progress. Understandably, EagleEyes has served to relieve much of the frustration that comes from living without a physical means of expression. Cindi has seen her son become happier and more outgoing in recent years.

When asked what advice she would share with other parents of students with language-expressive disorders, Cindi responds, “The hardest thing is believing what a kid can do before he even does it...you must TRY [the system] to know its potential. Not everyone benefits from the technology in the same way. You have to try different things, find out where you’re making progress and then stick with it.”

In other words, you have to keep testing the limits...something Matt Galligan could teach us a thing or two about.