She can't read or write, but she made the honor roll and got into UConn

Aleysha Ortiz, an honors graduate of Hartford public schools, is taking several classes at the University of Connecticut while her lawyer sues the district for failing to teach her to read and write. Ortiz, now 19, was diagnosed with a speech impediment and ADHD when she came to Hartford from Puerto Rico at the age of six, writes Jessika Harkay in the Connecticut Mirror.

At a May 29 meeting, Noreen Trenchard, a special education administrator for the district, said "no direct reading instruction was provided," because it wasn't in the Individual Education Plan. Ortiz’s difficulties in encoding and decoding could be “symptomatic of dyslexia,” Trenchard said, but could also be “symptomatic of not having received instruction.”

Administrators refused requests to evaluate Ortiz for dyslexia. Instead of help for her "hand fatigue," which made it hard for her to hold a pencil for more than a few minutes, she was told to use a keyboard.

She can add, but has few other math skills.

By 11th grade, a team of staff members "pushed for more services, intervention and support," Harkay reports. But Ortiz says she was told it was "too late" and "there weren’t teachers to sit down and teach me.”

Using a phone with the speech-to-text function and a calculator, Ortiz made the honor roll and was accepted at several universities, writes Harkay. She hopes to become a teacher or lawyer.

The school district offered her 100 hours of intensive reading instruction over the summer, but couldn't identify who would provide it. Ortiz decided to take the diploma and sue for "educational neglect."

It's not just that nobody taught her reading, writing or math. It's not just that she wasn't evaluated from what I'm guessing is severe dyslexia. She was given honor-roll grades, a diploma, a seat at a state university and ambitions she can't possibly fulfill unless someone teaches her how to read.