Young children, just like older children and adults, must engage specific skills throughout the day to help manage their emotions and behaviors. For example, while building blocks with a friend, a child might need to employ skills related to attention regulation in order to stay focused on the game or listen to her friend. Everyday classroom activities require similar skills. For instance, remembering to raise a hand rather than "shouting out" during a read-aloud requires children to regulate attention (stay focused on the story) and impulsivity (remember to raise a hand rather than calling out). A read aloud might also require children to regulate their emotions if, for instance, the story is very exciting, silly, or even sad.

Throughout the day, children encounter many such situations that call on a variety of Regulation-Related Skills (RRS), and the Regulation-Related Skills Measure (RRSM) is a tool that can be used by researchers to measure prekindergarten and kindergarten children's employment of these skills in  "real world" classroom contexts.

For a comprehensive overview of the RRSM, please read the RRSM Overview (available below).