He has ADHD, slow processing speed. Makes writing burdensome. He reacts by shortening his thoughts.... Until they're no longer true. Then struggles with organization and re-writes them - each time losing more and more of the truth. I just looked over his outline. It's simplified to the point where the facts are lost. And he finds himself stuck adding WWWWWH details, because he's trying to write details for an untruthful statement/situation.

He does this because of the length of the assignment. Because he is unwilling to follow directions and work on one segment at a time.

He writes brilliantly in short segments. He is capable, but he refuses to use a strategy to allow him to write more easily. He also refuses to take his medication. He has oppositional-defiant disorder also. That erupted with virtual schooling.

The "can't do it" statements are learned helplessness and/or trying to make me responsible for his homework (ODD, boundary issues). He has a long history of "can't" statements that when we fight it out are "don' wanna" statements.

He is capable of writing at 10th/11th grade level - as assessed by the director of the virtual school who is a licensed high school teacher. He's showing me 2nd grade level writing (or worse) when he doesn't *want* to do the assignment.

His behavioral and academic needs seem to conflict with each other.