When, despite their best efforts, teachers feel defeated by a disruptive student, it seems they're fighting a losing battle. These students often have trouble regulating their emotions, become inflexible and have outbursts, and leave teachers feeling exhausted and incompetent. Through their collaboration, the authors have developed an approach that helps teachers come up with practical interventions that can make a difference in students' day-to-day lives. It's built on the premise that teachers can only control a few variables--such as the classroom environment and their own behavior--in the lives of students with challenging behavior. Because of this, they must put preventative accommodations in place and recognize that how they respond to students' behavior has a huge impact. By understanding what the student is communicating, figuring out replacement behaviors, and building a strong relationship, teachers discover that seemingly intractable behavior can diminish and students can thrive. (Contains 1 figure and 2 endnotes.)