Some of this might indeed be a disability - but some if it is definitely the unwillingness to do it and I cant seem to get anywhere with him on that.
With my DD, the only times I see her willing to put in any amount of effort is when a)she is learning something completely new that she has no prior knowledge of (in grade three this was black history, this year it is the intricacies of puberty... joy!) or b)a subject that grabs her attention or c)it's fun. If an assignment does not meet these criteria, than she does not deem it worthy of the 'heroic' efforts she needs to employ to do a stellar job. In her own words "Having a learning disability makes school so hard! It is like trying to drive up a really steep hill on your little brother's tricycle. "I think she copes by picking and choosing which areas of her school work to work hard on. It is inconsistent and frustrating, but I think she would just crumple otherwise.
Interestingly, DD was also premature (born at 32 weeks) and she also refused to colour as a preschooler. I had to give her a crash course on writing her name two weeks before school started because she would refuse to hold a pencil!
Best of luck to you as you sort it all out. At all costs, preserve his self-esteem. It is incredibly precious, so easily damaged and practically impossible to get back once it is lost. My biggest struggle as an OCD perfectionist was to start looking the other way and accepting the work the DD produced as her 'best effort'. I still have a hard time deciding when to push and when to back off.
