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David (pseudonym) is a Swiss native English speaker, Thai is his second language and Chinese is his third language.

He has Dyslexia and Autism.

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No. Dyslexia and autism are two different types of disorders. Dyslexia has milder symptoms of autism.
No. Dyslexia and autism are two different types of disorders.
Dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty interpreting words, pronunciations, and spellings.

Autism or autistic spectrum disorder is a developmental disorder where the brain processes sound and colors in a manner different from an average brain. Such people cannot understand visual cues and body language and exhibit socially awkward behavior.

The brains of individuals with both autism and dyslexia show minor variations in the cell structure and arrangement compared with an average brain. In both cases, there are issues with the language system. In autism, it is more about not understanding social cues resulting in awkward responses, whereas, in dyslexia, it is more of a struggle decoding and putting together words, their sounds, and meanings.

Autism may vary in severity. Individuals with high-functioning autism (Asperger's syndrome) have excellent hearing, pronunciation, decoding, and spelling skills. What they lack is responding to them in a way that is assumed to be socially normal. Individuals with low-functioning autism often have low intelligence, and they need assistance with feeding, clothing, and daily routine. Some individuals may have convulsion disorders (epilepsy), repetitive habits such as head banging and face twitching, eating non-food items, sleep disorders, and aversion to sounds, touch, and colors.

Dyslexia has milder symptoms. These kids have normal or slightly higher intellect than average children. They may be daydreamers who have self-esteem issues, anxiety, and depression due to poor performance at school.

It is always prudent to monitor your child's behavior and surroundings to spot early signs of any disorder.

Warning signs for autism are as follows:

Absence of eye contact: The child does not look at you while feeding or talking.

Delayed milestones: No cooing, babbling, smiling, or pointing to objects by one year of age.

The child prefers to play alone and loves following rigid routines.

The child does not like being touched.

The child is unable to understand facial and verbal clues such as anguish and sarcasm.

Stimming: Certain repetitive behaviors such as head flapping, twitching of the eyelid, twirling, flapping their hands, and spinning in circles are exhibited by the child.

Regression of milestones: The child develops milestones as expected for their age but loses them by 12-18 months and stops smiling, cooing, and pointing.

None of these are seen in dyslexia. The warning signs of dyslexia are as follows:

The child starts talking late.

The child learns new words very slowly.

The child cannot pronounce the sounds well.

The child gets the letters that sound similar (Sa-, Sha-, Cha-) mixed up.

When the child starts writing alphabets, they present persistent mirror image writing, that is, writing the letters B, D, and R as a mirror image of themselves.

Kindergarten children with dyslexia often have trouble playing rhyming games, remembering or naming letters, numbers, and colors, and reading.

They cannot spell even simple words.

They read very slowly and make a lot of mistakes while reading. They often guess by sounding out the words they do not know.

They are poor at naming objects. For example, they may not be able to name a clock, but if you ask them to point at a clock, they will do it easily.

Autism is diagnosed earlier due to more pronounced signs. The average age for diagnosis of autism is three years, whereas the average age of diagnosis of dyslexia is around standard first (seven years) when the child starts spelling and attending regular classes.

See Answer
None of these disorders are curable, but they can be managed with behavioral therapy if caught early.
Dyslexia: Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is a structured, customized plan specific to your child's needs in cases of dyslexia. This teaching method encourages learning through pictures, reading out loud to improve fluency in the language, and understanding pronunciations. Teachers give the child tips on how to remember things or help them stay organized. Children with learning disabilities might be given extra time to solve problems or take tests. The earlier your child gets diagnosed and treated for learning disabilities, the better they will cope with their issues to perform better in school in the future.

Autism: In cases of autistic disorders, early intervention during the preschool years (age three to five) can help the child manage their behaviors and teach them to cope better in social situations. They are taught the appropriate response for an appropriate situation. Behavioral therapy involves teaching parents to reach out to their children. Children suffering from autism and associated hyperactivity, convulsions, and sleep problems also need early medical management.

Each child is unique in their own way. Individual differences in brain structures give rise to most developmental disorders, but these can be dealt with with proper counseling, and the child can reach their best potential.
Medically Reviewed on 2/3/2023
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/signs.html

https://www.uptodate.com/contents/dyslexia-the-basics?search=dyslexia&source=search_result&selectedTitle=4~28&usage_type=default&display_rank=4

http://www.autism-help.org/comorbid-dyslexia-autism.htm

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Is Dyslexia the Same as Autism? Differences, Signs & Treatment

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Dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty interpreting words, pronunciations, and spellings. Autism or autistic spectrum disorder is a developmental disorder where the brain processes sound and colors in a manner different from an average brain.

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Step 1: Observation and Recording Behavior 

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Step 1: Observation and Recording Behavior 

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What is Observation and Recording? | Hamptons College

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Observation and recording refer to the process of systematically collecting data and information through careful observation of a phenomenon or behavior. This process is often used in research studies, clinical assessments, and evaluations to gain a deeper understanding of a particular issue or phenomenon. Observation involves the systematic and intentional monitoring of a subject, object, [...]

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David is unable to read English and is unable to read English vocabulary (for the Basic Chinese class, we use English as the classroom language for teaching Chinese). He can only read simple monogrammed Chinese characters and cannot read Chinese phrases despite countless hours of practice.

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David was unable to write English correctly, distinguish the letters bd, or spell English words correctly. When writing Chinese characters, David often writes in the wrong stroke order and has significant difficulty in memorizing the correct way to write Chinese characters.

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David is unable to understand the instructions of the questions in doing the exercises are. Also when he reads and comprehends articles, whether in English or Chinese, he is unable to grasp the main idea and key details of the article, resulting in overall comprehension difficulties.

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David does not actively participate in discussions in class, shows significant difficulties in communicating with his classmates, often fails to understand or respond to verbal and non-verbal communication from his classmates, and sometimes talks to himself.

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Step 2: Differentiate between a language need and a learning disability

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Step 2: Differentiate between a language need and a learning disability

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Language Acquisition Difficulty or Learning Disability? How to Differentiate and Support English Language Learners with a Learning Disability - LD@school

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English Language Learners and students with learning disabilities are both at risk for lower achievement in language & literacy, but for differing reasons.

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Continuously observe and record student performance in the classroom;

Communicating with homeroom teachers and other subject teachers;

Reporting to school/communicating with parents;

Taking standardized tests (YCT-1) and other tests;

Changing teaching strategies;

Encouraging students to participate in one-on-one after-school support sessions.

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Language situation:

He uses English at home and learns Thai and Chinese at school. He can understand English, but from a young age he has been unable to read and literate (from parents).

He has an inability to read and comprehend in all subjects. (from the teachers).

After the teachers changed teaching strategies and one-on-one remediation, he continued to be unable to recognize text or had significant difficulties in reading and comprehension.

Behavioral situations:

He has not been able to interact with others since he was a child (from parents).

In the classroom, he was unable to complete group work, could not work well with others, often talked to himself or could not stop talking, and at times would suddenly break down and cry and pound the table due to stress (from teachers).

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He's got a learning disability.

He may have dyslexia and autism.

(We later got the diagnosis from the parents)

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Step 4: teaching strategy in Chinese class

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Step 4: teaching strategy in Chinese class

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Those of you who know me understand how passionate I am about children with Multiple AND Visual Disabilities. Here are my personal "Top 10 Tips" to guide in helping these special children grow and develop new skills for independence.

1. Believe in them!

Believe in the student's ability to learn something new- they can do it. This sounds easy, but it can be challenging when you have tried lots of things that haven't worked. Hang in there and always remember that yes they can! My biggest initial failures often end up being my greatest successes in the long run.

2. Have a 4-year plan.

Start by developing long-term goals; what would the team like the student to be able to do in 4 years? Think functional and realistic, but don't underestimate either. Use these long-term goals to guide the direction of the individual programs you develop and the annual goals. Give the student plenty of time to make progress because new skills usually are acquired slowly, it can take months to see even the smallest amount of progress. They will need all 4 years of regular work on these big skills to get where you want them to be.

3. Work together with team members.

Update other teachers, therapists and family members on progress and co-treat regularly with other members of the team. Working together regularly generates novel solutions to problems that pop up along the way. No one person has the answer alone; it is only by combining everyone's skill sets and observations about the student's progress that we have enough knowledge to create success. Finding ways to communicate with all of these people can be challenging - look for novel solutions to staying in regular contact. Use any and all means of keeping in touch with everyone else: group emails to talk about progress and ideas, phone/conference/Skype calls, home/school notebooks, home visits, plan your schedule to overlap with other therapists, be there at pick-up/drop-off times to have face time with parents, and schedule regular planning meeting that happen on a biweekly or monthly basis. I use all of these regularly to help me keep in contact with the multitude of people on my students' teams.

4. Develop group goals.

Work together with others on the same goals so that students get lots of practice on the same things. TVI's overlap particularly well with goals related to Literacy, Communication, Fine Motor Skills and Activities of Daily Living. COMS' overlaps well with Gross Motor, Adaptive PE, Fine Motor, and Activities of Daily Living. Equally as important, work with families so that there is consistency between school and home.

5. Work directly and often with the student and their paraprofessionals.

Work with the student at least 1-2 times a week, even if you aren't the teacher on a day-to-day basis. Consultation on a monthly or bi-monthly basis is almost never effective. Model how to implement your strategies and activities with any Parapro's that work with the student. Remember to check in with the Para's regularly - they have the best feedback about how things are going, and often have the best ideas for solutions to problems that come up as well.

6. Wait for the student's response.

Give plenty of wait time when looking for a student response - some students need 30+ seconds to even a full minute to assess the situation, figure out what they need to do, and then make their body do it. In addition, many students with multiple disabilities develop learned helplessness over time, knowing that if they just wait and do nothing someone else will do it for them. Don't let yourself be the Magic Fairy! It's OK to say things like "Hmm, I don't know what urgh means, you might want to use your device so I understand you" - and then wait - even if you really know they probably want a snack.

7. Make decisions based on the type of communicator they are.

Work with the Speech & Language Therapist to determine what type of communicator the student is. Are they unintentional, intentional but informal, or a symbolic communicator? If the student is an unintentional communicator, focus on shaping how staff members respond to the student's unintentional communications, including how we can shape a grunt or a point into a conversation. If they are intentional but informal, develop a plan to assist the student in becoming a symbolic communicator. If they are already using a symbolic means of communication, develop a plan to move the symbolic communication they are doing to the next level. For more information on how to help these students develop conversational skills, watch the webcast by Barbara Miles titled " Conversations: Connecting and Learning with Persons Who Are DeafBlind "

8. Make decisions based on their Learning Medium.

Use the student's learning medium to drive decisions about what kind of abstract symbol system you will use with the student. The student's Learning Medium is the primary way that they gather information - are they primarily using visual information, auditory information, or tactile information for learning? How they learn drives the type of Communicative Symbol System that will be most effective for the student. The TVI and the Speech & Language Therapist need to work together closely in determining the type of symbol system to use for communication. The way the student communicates will then drive decisions about a literacy system. This is a process that takes time and may involve several trials over a longer period of time before a final selection is made. For example, if the student is primarily an auditory learner but you select a visually based symbol system (such as Boardmaker Symbols), the student is not likely to be successful in mastering the visual symbols. You will end up thinking that they can't learn to use a symbolic system when in actuality you are just using the wrong type of system. The process of selecting a symbol system can be complex, and remember that many students with CVI will be unable to use visually based 2-dimensional symbols. My greatest success recently is a student for whom we did it all wrong in multiple ways for about 2 years before we figured out how she CAN do it. For more information about this process, watch my webinar titled " Effective Access to Communication and Literacy for Students with Visual and Multiple Disabilities ".

9. Determine how the student will respond.

Work with other team members (usually SpEd Teacher, OT, and S&L) to determine how the student will indicate their response. Will they reach with their hand or another body part using a visually guided reach, search and select using tactile skills, use eye gaze, or choose an item from an auditory list by responding with a yes or no (with a sound or body movements)? This will be determined by combining their Preferred Learning Medium along with their functional vision and fine motor skills. Once the way the student responds best has been determined, make sure everyone who works with the student knows HOW they will respond. I create cards for staff to refer to that summarize this for each student and hang on their wheelchairs or have at their desks.

10. Trust your gut in regards to mastery.

Being data driven is important, but it can limit us as well. If you have mixed mastery data, go with your gut feeling about whether or not a student has mastered a skill. When you think they have mastered it, move on to teaching them the next steps. Often students with multiple disabilities aren't able to show mastery of a skill at even an 80% level because of the multiple factors impacting their accuracy. It is tough to determine why these students make mistakes - are their mistakes because they don't understand, because we haven't made the skill or activity exciting or interesting for the student, because it is so hard to get their body to move in the way they want, because they are bored of working on the same thing for so long, or because they happened to be tired or sick that day? I often use 3/5 or even 2/3 trials as a mastery level rather than a higher 3/4 or 4/5 that we might expect for a student without motor issues. If you think the student "gets it", then start teaching them the next skill on their path toward their long term goals. Students and teachers both get sick of over-working a specific skill for too long, and this really can limit progress in the long run. Conversely, when a student really doesn't show mastery after a period of time, work with the team including para's and parents to figure out WHY they haven't really mastered the new skill. Use the WHY to help modify the approach so that it is successful.

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Top 10 Tips for Working with Students Who Have Multiple Disabilities and Visual Impairments - Paths to Literacy

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Paths to Literacy Top 10 Tips for Working with Students Who Have Multiple Disabilities and Visual Impairments. For teachers, families, and others interested in literacy for children and youth with visual impairments

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Instructional Strategies for Language Learning:

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Instructional Strategies for Language Learning:

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Multi-sensory teaching method: Using a combination of visual, auditory, and tactile senses, Chinese characters are transformed from pictures, assisting him in Chinese character learning through pictures and animation, not learning pinyin, starting with simple monograms, and dictation combined with writing practice.

Graded reading materials: Provide appropriate reading materials and observe if David's reading comprehension improves. If necessary, tutor David with listening and animation materials.

Individualized tutoring: Provide David with one-on-one tutoring, paying special attention to his Chinese character recognition and writing skills.

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Parents contacted a psychiatric clinic to develop an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) based on the diagnosis, and an assessment form shared with all teachers.

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Allow space and time for independent learning: David is not forced to participate in group activities and cooperation, and is allowed to learn in a way that is comfortable for him.

Playing soothing music during students' independent work;

Giving him stress-relieving hand-held toys or allowing the carrying of stress-relieving dolls;

Allowing him to take deep breaths and calm down outside the classroom when he feels stressed, while ensuring safety, but requiring constant attention.

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Although there is no significant progress in the spelling of English letters, he can recognize some simple Chinese characters, can answer questions using simple Chinese, and can do group activities with his classmates!

I feel proud for him!