About Us

SMART Education is owned and managed by Mary O'Dowd B.Ed. who has over 26 years teaching experience and 12 years experience teaching children with special educational needs. Mary has a Certificate in Psychology and Counselling and has attended many training courses in Special Educational Needs in the UK and America. For 6 years Mary trained Special Needs Assistants in Dublin and currently trains Montessori teachers and childcare professionals in the area of Special Needs.

SMART Education was the first independent Learning Centre in Dublin. The SMART Education Learning Centre, Castleknock, Dublin was set up by Mary O'Dowd in 2006. It was set up to help children and young adults who have difficulty with certain aspects of school work and to offer a service for parents. The centre offered many different services and the Fast ForWord program proved to be particularly helpful to children and young people with dyslexia and ADD/ADHD. The centre was visited by Minister for Children, Brian Lenihan in 2007 and was shown on TV3 in March 2007. During the first 2 years over 100 children and families used the centre.

In September 2009 SMART Education opened a purpose built Centre in Moycullen, Co Galway. Students and families all over Ireland avail of the services offered. The Moycullen Centre accepts referrals from schools, educational psychologists, Occupational therapists and other professionals. Since September 2009 hundreds of students have availed of a SMART assessment.

In 2009 Mary was the Network Galway Business Woman of the Year (new business) and in 2010 was a finalist in the All Ireland Network Women in Business Awards.