What do you think set him off in the art class?
Does he actively or passively refuse to comply?
As my DS becomes a little more aware of his process--we've made some helpful discoveries:
He does not do as well in unstructured classes. This year it's more an academic issue (he needs explicit systems to hand in work), but last year it was behavioral. In a class where it is sometimes okay to mill about and socialize, and sometimes not..."time and place" did not compute. He's improving in this and it's because of explicit instruction and also his new (self-chosen) default of "when in doubt, sit down and shut up."
As an aside: I had a revealing conversation with a teenager, yesterday, who has significant anxiety--primarily the social type. She is more of the shy/retiring type but she explained to me that it is very confusing and upsetting when teachers have "pets" who can do no wrong, but there are other students in the class who are called out for behaviors everyone else is doing, also. She isn't one who is in trouble (she's quiet) but the inconsistency increases her anxiety, and she feels sorry for the kids whom the teacher appears to have targeted.
I don't know if any of that applies, and I know you want your DS to learn to manage his behavior better and not be so triggered in these situations. That's obviously an appropriate goal for him, learning to be more flexible and regulate emotions better.
It seems like it would be important to identify what the antecedent is in this situation. FWIW, I think it's fine to pull him since you have a workable solution and bigger fish to fry than an inflexible/inexperienced teacher's inability or unwillingness to consider his unique situation.
Not sure any of this makes sense--still working on the coffee.
