Which one you need is a clinical question
Aligners and fixed braces are not competing products, they are different tools. Aligners — ClearPath here, an alternative to Invisalign — handle crowding, spacing and most cosmetic cases. Fixed braces handle significant crowding, skeletal discrepancies and the bite corrections trays cannot reach.
Because the practice offers both, the recommendation is not shaped by what it happens to sell. The assessment establishes what the case actually needs and you are told which, and why.
Children, and the timing question
Orthodontics in a growing child is partly about timing. Some problems are far easier to correct while the jaw is still growing, and some are better left until more adult teeth have arrived.
An early assessment is not the same as early treatment. Often the right answer is to look, explain, and see the child again in a year.