Introduction: Dyslexia is a neurobiological impairment that
primarily affects reading ability. It is commonly known as a
reading disorder which is likely to be present at birth and is
generally identified at pre-school level. Dyslexia is
manifested through difficulties with accurate word
recognition and also by poor performance in reading and
writing.
Method: The main objective of this paper is to review the
various methods or treatments that are used to manage the
literacy and cognitive abilities for children with dyslexia
particularly in Malaysia. The articles were obtained from
online databases such as PubMed, Ebscohost and Medline
during the time frame of six years starting from 2000 until
2016. An initial count of 300 articles were generated but only
13 articles met the inclusive criteria.
Results: There are a few types of interventions such as the
multisensory method, the phonological intervention, and the
cognitive training method which can be used to improve
literacy and cognitive deficits among children with dyslexia.
In Malaysia, most of the treatments are focused on the
aspects of language such as word mastery, alphabet
identification and writing skills. The cognitive training were
carried out to improve specific domain such as visuospatial
skills, memory skills and psychomotor skills.
Conclusion: There is yet no studies which has employed the
comprehensive method of combining the intervention of
cognitive functions and linguistics-literacy deficits. It is
imperative that researchers in Malaysia go beyond literacy
skills and take into consideration the underlying cognitive
functions which contribute to the specific reading and
writing difficulties of Malaysian children with dyslexia.