Your plan funds the therapy. Now you need a qualified therapist that connects with your child.
You've done the hard part — the assessment, the planning meeting, the wait. Your plan has funding in it. And then you start ringing around and hear the same word every time: waitlist. Light Unfolding is a boutique paediatric practice in Adelaide doing speech pathology and occupational therapy — so if your plan names both, you're not managing two providers who never speak to each other. We're taking new NDIS participants right now, and we come to your child — at home, at school, or online.
- Accepting new NDIS participants
- First session usually within a week
- Self-managed & plan-managed
- Speech & OT in one practice
Can we take your plan?
This is the question everyone asks in the first thirty seconds of the call, so let's answer it here and save you the phone call. It comes down to how your plan is managed.
Self-managed
You pay our invoice from your NDIS funds and get reimbursed through your NDIS portal. You have the most freedom of any participant — you can choose any provider you like, including us.
We send plain, itemised invoices with everything the portal asks for, so claiming takes a couple of minutes.
Plan-managed
Your plan manager pays our invoices out of your funding. You never touch the paperwork, and you're free to use registered and unregistered providers — again, including us.
Tell us who manages your plan on the call and we'll invoice them directly from your first session. Nothing for you to chase.
NDIA-managed (agency-managed)
If the NDIA pays your providers directly, you can only use NDIS-registered providers — and Light Unfolding is not registered yet.
Two honest options: ask your LAC or planner about moving to plan management (it's funded on top of your other supports, so it doesn't eat into therapy funding), or call us anyway and we'll point you toward a registered colleague who's taking referrals.
Not sure which one you are? It's written on the first page or two of your plan — or just book the call and read it to us. We'll work it out together in about a minute.
What your plan actually pays for with us.
Both speech pathology and occupational therapy for children generally sit under Capacity Building — Improved Daily Living. OT also reaches into Capital Supports, because equipment and assistive technology usually need an OT's written recommendation before the NDIS will fund them. Here's what that budget buys at Light Unfolding.
Speech pathology
Talking, understanding, speech clarity, executive functioning skills (like working memory, following directions, and sustained attention), stuttering, and social communication — plus communication devices where they're needed. Standard 90-minute or Essentials 60-minute sessions — see pricing.
Occupational therapy
Sensory processing and regulation, activities of daily living, fine motor and handwriting, coordination, and executive functioning skills (like planning, organising and sustained attention) — so a school day is something your child can get through.
Assessments, either discipline
A comprehensive assessment with a plain-English written report you can hand to a school, a GP or the NDIS. If your child needs both, we'll do our best to coordinate the assessments so your family does not need to fill out the same information twice. More on assessments.
Evidence for your plan review
Progress reports before your review, and — where it's warranted — an OT Functional Capacity Assessment (FCA) describing what your child can and can't do day to day. That's often the single document a planner leans on hardest.
Coming to your child
Home, school, kindy or childcare, anywhere in metropolitan Adelaide — or online. Our therapists don't charge travel to your plan at all.
Goals written to your plan
Your plan names the goals. We build therapy around those exact words — and with your consent we'll talk to your child's teacher, paediatrician or support coordinator so everyone's on the same team.
Two therapies, one plan, one practice.
Plenty of children's plans fund speech pathology and occupational therapy. When both sit in one practice, your plan buys therapy rather than coordination — and you stop being the person carrying messages between two teams.
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You tell it onceOne intake, one free call, one point of contact — for both disciplines.
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Assessments scoped togetherIf your child needs both, we'll do our best to coordinate the assessments so your family doesn't need to fill out the same information twice — and your plan isn't paying twice to learn the same things.
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One set of goals, two cliniciansYour Speech Pathologist and your Occupational Therapist work toward the same goals — and they actually talk, because they're in the same practice.
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Fewer trips for your familyWhere it suits your child, sessions can be scheduled back to back in one visit instead of two.
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One coherent picture at reviewReports that reference each other and tell the same story about your child, so everyone's on the same team.
Only need one of them? Good — then that's all we'll do. Plenty of Light Unfolding families use speech only, or OT only. A practice that offers both has an obvious incentive to sell you both, so here's our commitment in writing: on the free call we'll tell you honestly which discipline is worth your funding, and if it's only one, we'll say so and bill you for one.
From this page to your child's first session.
No referral needed, no waitlist form, no "we'll add you to the list and be in touch".
A free 15-minute call
With a clinician, not a receptionist. Tell us what the plan says, how it's managed, and what you're hoping changes for your child. Have your plan handy if you can — we'll work out whether that's speech, OT, or both.
We confirm the fit
If we're right for your child, you get a plain-English service agreement — what we'll do, what it costs, how it's billed. If we're not, we'll say so and tell you who to ring.
First session
Usually within a week, at your home, their school, kindy or childcare, or online. We start where your child is, not with a folder of paperwork.
Already had a private assessment, or one through the NDIS? Bring it. If it's recent and thorough we won't make you pay for another one — we'll read it, use it, and get straight to therapy.
Funded therapy is finite. Let's make the plan go the distance.
Every hour in your plan is an hour you don't get back. Most families we meet arrive with one of two problems, and both are avoidable.
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The plan runs out earlyWeekly sessions booked with no map — and if speech and OT are both running flat out, they're drawing on the same Improved Daily Living pool. The budget is gone by month eight, with four months of plan left.
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The plan goes unusedMonths lost to waitlists and false starts, and the plan ends with thousands unspent. Funding doesn't roll over — and an unspent budget is a hard thing to argue with at your next review.
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So we map it with you, on the free callSomething unglamorous and genuinely useful: we look at how much funding you have, how long the plan runs, and we map the sessions across it. You'll leave the call knowing roughly what your year looks like.
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And your plan pays for therapy, not drivingTravel isn't therapy, so we don't bill it — on either session option. Every dollar your plan spends with us is a dollar spent on your child.
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Reports written to hold up at reviewClear evidence of what's changed and what's still needed, so your next plan reflects where your child actually is.
What it's like to actually get started.
"Highly recommend Catherine's service. She's helped my child with his stuttering, teaching him practical techniques to notice and smooth out 'bumpy' speech, and given him real confidence along the way. She's wonderful with neurodivergent kids — patient, warm, and genuinely understanding — and always follows up with detailed, helpful reports. Couldn't ask for better care."
"Can not recommend Light Unfolding enough. Before seeing Catherine we were so lost, my son had no communication skills at all and no sounds. They aren't just a service, they are so much more. Kind, caring and supportive."
The things people ask us on the phone.
Are you an NDIS-registered provider?
No — Light Unfolding is an unregistered provider. That's common for small, specialised practices, and it means we can work with self-managed and plan-managed participants but not NDIA-managed ones yet. Registration status doesn't change our clinicians' qualifications: our Speech Pathologist is certified with Speech Pathology Australia (CPSP) and our Occupational Therapist is registered with AHPRA, and both hold a Working with Children Check and an NDIS Worker Screening Check.
My plan is NDIA-managed. Is there any way we can see you?
Not yet, while it stays NDIA-managed. The usual path is to ask your LAC, support coordinator or planner about switching to plan management — you can request it at a review or as a plan variation, and the NDIA funds it on top of your other supports, so it doesn't reduce your therapy budget. Plenty of families make the switch precisely because it opens up providers who have capacity. If you'd rather start straight away, call us and we'll point you to a registered colleague.
Do you charge within the NDIS price limits?
Yes — our fees sit within the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits for therapy supports, and we'll show you the exact figure before you agree to anything. Nothing gets billed to your plan that you haven't seen in writing first.
Do you bill my plan for travel?
No — never, on either session option. Travel isn't therapy, so our therapists don't bill it to your plan at all. Getting to your child's home, school, kindy or childcare is on us, which means every dollar your plan spends with us goes to your child. The full breakdown is on the pricing page.
Do I need a referral or a new assessment to start?
No referral needed — with NDIS funding you can approach a Speech Pathologist or an Occupational Therapist directly. And if you've already had an assessment recently, bring it. We'll read it and use it rather than charging you for a repeat. If there are real gaps in it, we'll tell you what's missing and why it matters before you spend anything.
Can you write the report for my plan review?
Yes, and we'd encourage it. A therapy report written close to your review — showing progress, current functional impact, and what's still needed — is the strongest evidence you can bring. Report writing is a legitimate use of your Improved Daily Living funding. Tell us your review date on the first call and we'll work backwards from it.
Our plan funds both speech and OT. Do we have to use you for both?
Not at all. Plenty of families use us for one discipline and keep an existing provider for the other, and that's a perfectly good arrangement — especially if your child already has a therapist they've clicked with. If you do use us for both, you get one intake, one set of goals and two clinicians who actually talk; if you don't, we'll happily coordinate with whoever else is involved, with your consent.
Does OT come out of the same budget as speech pathology?
Usually yes — for most children both sit under Capacity Building — Improved Daily Living, which means they draw on one shared pool. That's exactly why sequencing matters: two disciplines running flat out from January can empty a budget well before the plan ends. On the call we'll map both against your funding and your plan dates so you can see the whole year. Separately, OT also connects to Capital Supports — equipment and assistive technology generally need an OT's written recommendation before the NDIS will fund them, and that's a different budget line.
Can your OT do a functional capacity assessment for our review?
Yes. A Functional Capacity Assessment (FCA) describes what your child can and can't manage day to day — dressing, eating, writing, coping with a classroom — in the concrete terms planners are looking for. It's often the most useful single document you can bring to a review. See our OT assessment page for what's included. Tell us your review date early so we can time it properly rather than rushing it.
Our plan funded one therapy, but I think the other is the real problem.
This happens more than you'd think — a child gets funded for OT because of "behaviour" that turns out to be frustration at not being understood, or funded for speech when the harder daily problem is regulation. Because we do both, we have no reason to steer you toward whichever one we happen to sell. We'll tell you what we actually see, and if that means recommending less of one and more of the other, that's what goes in the report for your next review.
My plan is nearly finished. Is it too late to start?
Usually not. Even a handful of sessions before your review gives you current, documented evidence of your child's needs — which is far better than turning up to a review with an untouched budget and nothing to show. Book the call and tell us the end date; we'll be straight with you about what's realistic in the time left.
Do you have a waitlist?
Not at the moment — we're accepting new NDIS participants and first sessions are typically about a week out. Because we're deliberately a small practice, that can change; if we ever can't take your child promptly we'll tell you on the call rather than parking you on a list.
How old does my child have to be?
We work with the paediatric population — from babies and toddlers, through primary and high school, and into young adulthood. In practice that's birth to 21, across both disciplines.
What if we're not the right fit?
Then we'll say so on the free call, before you've signed anything or spent a dollar of your plan. Your funding is too valuable to spend six weeks discovering a mismatch, and we'd rather refer you well than take a client we can't help.
Whenever you're ready, we'd love to meet your child.
Fifteen minutes with a clinician — bring your plan, ask anything about funding, and leave knowing exactly what the next step is, whether that's speech, OT, both, or neither. Free, and there's no pressure to book anything.
Book your free Discovery CallOr ring us on — we'd genuinely rather have the conversation.