Emotional regulation is a broadly defined social skill encompassing multiple strategies needed to manage psychological stressors. It is particularly important for functioning in the school environment and can be impaired by deficits in the skills necessary to process emotion or underlying psychiatric disorders. Problems with emotional regulation escalate along a predictable pattern into an acute emotional outburst causing classroom disruption and safety concerns. Well timed interventions can de-escalate outbursts, and systematic behavioral evaluation and planning can prevent them from occurring in the future.