John describes a pivotal transformation in his 36-year career in special education. For the first decade, his goal was to 'extinguish' meltdowns to maintain order. However, he eventually adopted a new philosophy: viewing behavior as communication. He began to see a child's struggle not as a lack of will, but as a lack of skills or an inability to handle the current environment. He argues that every child is doing their 'very best' in that moment, and the teacher's role is to act as a 'laboratory' to help them build the missing developmental skills rather than just applying consequences.