Tips for building confidence at school?

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My kiddo is bright. He is in first grade, but goes to 2nd grade for math. He is doing great and keeps up. However, he has been getting overly anxious/emotional during class when he is learning something challenging. He has been so quick to learn everything, now that he is being challenged he seems to give up before he even tries. I'm not sure how to get him through this, he needs to learn that it is okay to be confused or to not know the answer. He just wants to stay in his comfort zone of things he already knows.

We've introduced some social stories, so we'll see if that gives him some perspective. I'm not sure how else to support him through this.

Ideas? Anyone have this issue?

Make sure he has some self-calming techniques to help him through (stims, chews, rocks often work for AS kids) and then continue to encourage, let him know it's part of life, all things worth knowing take some work, etc. It's a life skill, and one that pretty much every child has to learn to acquire. Funny how they don't even think about it when they desperately want the end result, but give up fast when they aren't so use why they need to learn it. My son always made up excuses, like "I don't need to be able to read, you can read for me!" rrriiiggghhhttt.

Be aware that part of the problem may be that other aspects of a second grade class are simply beyond his maturity. How long to sit still working on one problem before there is a break, the steps used in giving instructions, etc. He may be afraid to tell you, or even unable to pinpoint, some of these discomforts. There should be accomodations in place to recognize the maturity gap.

Patience. Your son will figure it out.