Confidence

I'm a little worried about my 6 yr old son right now. He seems to be suffering from a lack of confidence at school. He has just started Year 2 and seems to have gone backwards. He is left handed and has always struggled with his handwriting. He is great at reading and also very good at spelling. Today he had 3 sentences to write, each of which contained a spelling word. Well he got all upset and started crying saying he couldn't do it. I know that he can. After quite a bit of coaxing, I managed to get him to spell out the words for me and then write them. He COULD do it, but he didn't acknowledge that he could. I asked him if he got upset and cried at school and he said yes. He said that he can't write sentences and when they were asked to he got all upset and cried (I didn't know this before now). I know that he's a perfectionist and gets upset when he gets something wrong, but now he's getting upset BEFORE even having a go! He's got it in his head that he can't do it when he can. I just don't know what to do!! It's awful watching him get so sad and discouraged, especially when I know that he is a very bright and clever boy. {sigh} - the struggles of being a parent! Oh, and does anyone else thing 'juice' is a difficult word for a 6 yr old to know how to spell?