Choosing between home, school and centre-based therapy

There's no universally "best" setting for therapy — the right choice depends on your child, the goal of the therapy, and practical family logistics.

Home-based therapy

Works well when the goal is building skills into daily routines directly, or when travel is difficult. The trade-off is more distractions and less specialised equipment on hand.

School-based support

Makes sense when the goal is helping a child access the classroom specifically — an LSA or shadow teacher's value is largely tied to being present exactly where the challenge shows up.

Centre-based therapy

Offers specialised equipment and a more controlled environment, which can help for therapies like OT that benefit from specific tools. It requires more logistics — travel time, scheduling around the centre.

Mixing settings

Many families combine approaches — centre-based OT alongside school-based LSA support, for example. There's no rule that a child needs one consistent setting across every type of support.

What we recommend

We generally suggest starting with whichever setting removes the most friction for your family, then adjusting based on how your child responds — consistency in showing up usually matters more than the setting itself.