Teen makes his dream become a virtual reality

Cian Clarke with his mother Pauline

The mother of a teenager with autism, who received his CAO first-round offer of a place on Ireland's first virtual reality degree course, is thrilled she 'stuck to her guns' in keeping him in mainstream education.

Cian Clarke is ready to become one of the first pupils of the Augmented and Virtual Reality degree course at Dundalk Institute of Technology after he attained 321 points in his Leaving Certificate.

The 18-year-old from Dundalk was told when he was just four years old that he had an IQ of 143 but exam pressures always made him struggle to show his true genius abilities.

His mother Pauline decided with Cian to drop to ordinary level subjects to ensure he got the points needed for his first preference CAO choice.

"When we were told of his IQ at four years of age, we thought wow, he will be able to do anything but it's only when he got older that we realised how much the social element of life impacted on his ability," she said.

"He spent so much time at exams making sure the paper was straight or the lines were straight that he never had time to finish the exam. He always struggled to prove his point and he was so anxious about the exams.

"His teachers knew he knew all the stuff but it was exam management that killed him every time. 

"And in lockdown, he went from having six SNAs to being on his own in his room with a laptop and he became physically sick from the stress."

She said they sat down and found the course he really wanted to do which was 320 points. 

"So we dropped most subjects to Ordinary level and he didn't feel stressed anymore and got 321 points. He was delighted. 

He didn't expect an offer as he doesn't have much faith in himself but we are so proud of him. All the SNAs and teachers were ringing up to see how he got on."

Ms Clarke said it is the first course in Ireland on Augmented and Virtual Reality.

"When he was younger, some people suggested that we send Cian to a special school but we believed that he was just as entitled to education as much as anyone else and we are so glad we stuck to our guns."

Indeed Cian was also the inspiration behind Pauline's award-winning business Kookee.

"When Cian was diagnosed with autism, I gave up my corporate job to become his carer and I found that he loved baking cookies so it became a ritual in the house with all the kids. 

"We were baking up to 50 cookies each week so we started giving them away and then my sister asked me to make some for her and I thought this could be a business. Kookee was always going to be a slow-burner as my family came first."

However, Kookee products are now stocked in SuperValu and are on the shelves in Aldi this week and she is about to open her first manufacturing facility outside her kitchen.

"If it wasn't for Cian, I'd probably be stuck somewhere in a corporate job and not doing something that I love - and with my family."