In my point of view your child is ready for first grade. If the teacher is saying he is ready then he is ready. No matter how old or how young children are they tend to have problems socially, it's just the matter of them growing out of that stage. Eventually your son will face that fear whether it is in first grade or in any other grade and be able to socially develop appropriately. Each child develops differently at different times which is perfectly fine. I think what you can do is help your son by focusing on building up his social skills and get him ready for first grade. Hope this helps.

Academic boredom can bring on a variety of different problems.  As far as speech and speaking, one thing that may help is finding some creative outlets for him outside of school.  Our son didn't begin speaking before 3 and spent several years a bit frustrated as his mind seemed to go faster than his mouth.  To help eliminate some of that frustration, we decided to try music (piano lessons on a relatively cheap 76 key electronic keyboard - this doesn't need to be expensive).  In the past 3 years, we've found that his speech along with his math skills have benefited.  Additionally, he has found a release and a source of comfort on difficult school days by just sitting at the piano and playing.  Another extra-curricular activity that might help draw your son out of his shell is martial arts, taekwondo in our case.  Our son is a soft spirited child and we felt he would benefit from taking taekwondo through the disciplined community.  He has been in it since age 4 and has really grown more outgoing and communicative through it.  Pick your martial art school well, however, and choose based on your child's impression of the instructors.

My son is 5 years old. He has a hard time remembering his letters and his numbers. Just turned 5 and his teacher said he will be repeating kindergarten.