Adult Education Student Mark On His Experience Of Returning To Education

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Today we have a post by Mark Daly, who is a student with the adult literacy service in Loughlinstown. Thank you to Caro Neville the Adult Literacy Organiser with the DDLETB Adult Education Service – South East.

DDLETB Mark Daley Dyspraxia

My name is Mark Daly and I’m from Wicklow 

I had always struggled with maths and numeracy. In Ireland, during the 1980’s there was little of no information or advice on what this could mean for me or what I could do to address this. 

While on holiday in the USA I found out I had Dyscalculia, a Maths learning disability. 

Later, I then found out I also have Dyspraxia or Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) which affects fine and gross motor skills. 

After 20 years, I returned to Adult Education. I got a booklet through my front door from Dublin & Dun Laoghaire Education Training Board (DDLETB). Now that I have my diagnosis and having read my assessment on dyscalculia I thought ‘You know what, now is the time to do something about this’. 

I still find areas of numeracy difficult like for example, the language of numbers. I was very nervous returning to education. I recall saying to the maths teacher that the last time I had to do a sum on the board was in primary school and I still remember the steam coming out from my teacher’s ears due to the length of time it took for me to come up with the answer. I did a course in DDLETB Adult Education Service based in Loughlinstown Training Centre and this was the first time I told someone I had dyscalculia. 

I love the discussion aspect of our classes like Intercultural Awareness where I’ve learned about the world, culture and what makes us who we are. Our Personal Decision-Making module has helped me support others in giving up smoking and to drink less sugary drinks. 

Our group also made a podcast and uploaded it on SoundCoud. It is a huge achievement having your work displayed and seeing people like the podcast on Facebook. My biggest achievement was having a newsletter I made on Dyscalculia posted our centre’s bulletin board. 

If I had not returned to Adult Education this is no way that I would have been able to share my story with others, including both AONTAS,  NALA, and other adult students in our centre. 

“Three years ago I took the step of going back down the road of Adult Education and I haven’t looked back since”.