Childrens language will tend to improve over time, and without controlled studies, it can be hard to know how much of observed change is down to a specific treatment. There is, however, increasing evidence that direct 1:1 intervention with an SLT/P can be effective for improving vocabulary and expressive language. There have been few studies of interventions that target receptive language, though some positive outcomes have been reported. How to help a child with developmental language disorder
Talk to the child often to help them learn new words
Read to them every day. Point out words you see
Point to signs in the grocery store, at school, and outside
Speak to the child in the language you know best
Listen and answer when the child talks
Get the child to ask you questions
Give the child time to answer questions
Keep them in school: children who are school-refusers have poorer language skills overall, and a higher incidence of language impairments

Outcome
Longitudinal studies indicate that problems are largely resolved by five years of age in around 40% of four-year-olds with early language delays who have no other presenting risk factors. However, for children who still have significant language difficulties at school entry, reading problems are common, even for children who receive specialist help, and educational attainments are typically poor. Poor outcomes are most common in cases where comprehension as well as expressive language is affected.
Word finding – Children with word finding difficulties may know a word, but have difficulty accessing it for production – similar to the tip of the tongue phenomenon. Pragmatics – Pragmatics refers to the ability to select the appropriate message, or interpret what others say, in relation to context. Pragmatic difficulties can give an impression of oddity, with the content of language not fitting the environmental or social context; comprehension may be over-literal; the child may chatter incessantly, be poor at turn-taking in conversation and maintaining a topic
Discourse – Discourse refers to a level of organization of language beyond the sentence. Child with limitations in this domain may have limited ability to tell a story or describe a set of events in a logical sequence
Verbal memory and learning – Problems with remembering words or sentences can affect both the learning of new vocabulary, and the understanding of long or complex sentences. Young children with DLD may say their first words later than other children. It may also take children with DLD longer to learn and remember novel words. Phonology – Phonology is the branch of linguistics concerned with the way sounds are combined in words. Children with difficulties with phonology may fail to distinguish between certain speech sounds, such as t and k, so that cake is produced as tate. Such difficulties are not unusual as part of typical development in toddlers, but they would usually resolve by the time children are 4–5 years old.