Annie Burnett Receives Accolades
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Annie has a language-based learning disability and has significant difficulty with reading, spelling, auditory perception, and organization. She has been a student in the “Academy” schools in South Bend for gifted and talented students. Annie is considered a twice exceptional student and receives special education serviced at school.

Annie attends the Masonic Learning Center for Children twice a week for individual tutoring sessions. She has been receiving services since November, 2005. Standardized test scores continue to show significant achievement.

As a gifted student, Annie had great difficulty accepting the fact that she learns differently than other kids in her peer group. As she moved through the lengthy diagnostic process, she was often very frustrated and felt dumb or stupid. She writes in her journal a lot, and journal entries from this period in her life express great insecurity and dissatisfaction with her life. Once detailed diagnostic information about her learning disability was documented, intensive tutoring really turned things around for her.

Annie's hard work paid off. She made the honor roll twice last year and was proud of her accomplishment. She is also very creative and had a significant role in Macbeth in the Shakespeare Club's production last spring. She does know her limits, however, and decided not to participate in sports last fall so she could devote the time necessary for her schoolwork. Annie was named 2007 STUDENT OF THE YEAR by the Learning Disabilities Association of Indiana and was presented the award at its annual conference in Carmel, IN last November.