Catch 22, autism & the education system

Its 1.45 am. Its been an hour and he may still awake. I've lain in bed listening to him happily burbling, "chatting", guerring and playing with his blind, but hes gone quiet...is he asleep? Meanwhile my mind has been racing, leaping from thought to thought...I call it monkey brain (its a term I heard somewhere) and it aptly describes the chaos going on in my head.
We have one more assessment to get...how many ways and professionals does one have to have say that Liam has a problem.
He's quietly chattering, maybe he's getting sleepy :).
Its all rather black...I want shade and light and colour (and humanity), not pigeon-holing.

Liam turns 5 this month. The catch 22 is that he is eligible for another year of early intervention. If he was a typically developing child (sometimes political correctness helps, sometimes....), with his physical health issues, he would have repeated another year of kinder. Its well known that physical illness in itself can cause developmental delays. This is the first year Liam has appeared physically robust, but its still not uncommon for me to be called to collect him from kinder as he has fallen asleep.
He's silent again.
I know I would have been advised to do another year of kinder and allow him to mature. When Simon started school, one of the boys in his year just starting was a almost 2 years older than him as he had been too unwell to start school earlier.
(guerrs)
Liam isn't normal though and although children with autism are developmentally delayed that doesn't matter. Here comes the second catch, Liam is on the wrong (I use this word deliberately), ie severe end of the spectrum. This is compounded by moderate to severe intellectual disability. If he cannot go to a mainstream school, he has to start school the year he turns 6. If Liam was higher functioning he could have an extra year of intervention and kinder, even if he needed an aide at school. If Liam was normal ( how I dislike that word...its so excluding), he could repeat 4 yo kinder or like his older brother or cousin repeat a year of school to allow him to mature as they did. These are not options for him.
Perhaps I should check up on him, but I don't want to disturb him unless I have to.
All this negativity being flung at you gets to you eventually. I still have hope, but I just wish the system was a little more flexible so he could start school a year later. So I wouldn't feel that being at the wrong end of the spectrum was disadvantaging him further. Surely there should be hope for my child, not just for the ones who are higher functioning.
So Liam will go off to school next year, ready or not. I am very happy with the school we will be sending him to. They do specialise in autism afterall :).

One very important thing I have to add here is that the professionals, aides and teachers who work with our children are truly wonderful people. They all do it by choice, because they want to. All three special schools we visited were welcoming and Liam was obviously as comfortable there as we were. It was a soothing, calming experience for both Kris and I. We know Liam will be well looked after and hope still exists for his potential to be realised.
I cannot believe he is still awake. Imp! adorable imp, but still...
I think I better go see him...usually when this happens a snuggle and a bottle re-establish the sleep routine.

Then perhaps my brain will behave itself and have a rest LOL