This is the thing. We DO feel that most of the schooling issues is from plain ol' being a high-energy little boy. He doesn't have ADHD - it's not like that. He can sit and do a hand-writing page from "handwriting w/out tears" - he would just rather be up a tree, running around, etc... and it's just been hard to find something he is interested in with LA because I think thus far it's just not been the right learning style or something (like he's just not ready or ??).
He has a bunch of foods that cause neurological reactions so if he eats something with, say, wheat in it (on accident or if he's plain old being a little sneaker) his brain has a reaction to it and he, at that point, is unable to focus on anything (behavior goes out the window, voice gets high-pitched, hands flap, he can even end up curled in a ball in the corner). We have to "re-set" him if this happens. Sometimes it means having him swing in a swing chair or just run outside for awhile. Other times it means making him take a long shower (sensory) or making him go to bed. It is weird and took us a long time to figure out what was going on with him (he was 4yo and unable to use the toilet even though he "knew how" - two days wheat-free he used it no problems and never had an accident again unless he got wheat somehow).
Anyways - some days it's not food that sets him off - could be just tired - basically anything that causes him to get over-stimulated puts him into a negative spiral towards hands in mouth, jumpy, jittery, flappy, tippie toes, high-pitched voice, weird "language"/speech, etc... All this was told to the Autism specialist but because it's not "all day" and just "occasional" "set off" they didn't want to dx him with "autism".
We put him in gymnastics last year and the first 5 classes it took him so long to not just sit there and be overwhelmed by the new, the people, social, (sat by himself, hands in mouth, etc....) but then he jumped in and LOVED it and got more social and did just fine.
I just mention "school time" and he just sort of "shuts down" some days. His ES said that kids do best starting LA in the mornings but really the only way I can start him on school lately has been to start with Math U See because it's not INTIMIDATING to him - it's a breeze, he's not afraid of it, he knows he can do it and learn it. I can just see when we try to do LA it's like just so hard for him to LIKE it. It did help a little bit to do a small character series to teach him "diligence", "patience", "endurance", etc... trying to show him that it's okay that sometimes things are hard to do but that it's good to still do them.
I really like the idea of getting a little stand so he and paint standing up. I also think if the program we do can be really "routine" and move very slow (like how Math U See seems to do) I think he'd actually do it just fine.