Dr. Joyce C. Tu is Vice President of Clinical Transformation, Autism Services at Easterseals Southern California (ESSC). She is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst with a doctorate in educational psychology specializing in applied behavior analysis (ABA). Dr. Tu has over 25 years’ experience as an organizational leader, behavior analysis professor and practitioner in the U.S. and abroad.
Dr. Tu’s specialization and research interests are chiefly in verbal behavior, specifically, joint control and its role in listeners’ behavior. Her research appears in peer-reviewed journals, such as The European Journal of Behavior Analysis and The Analysis of Verbal Behavior. In 2011, Dr. Tu co-authored a Chinese-language textbook published by Peking University Press, including chapters on topics such as shaping, prompting/fading, chaining and generalization.
Dr. Tu has presented countless workshops and speaking engagements on a wide range of behavior analytic topics for businesses and professional organizations worldwide, including ABA International (ABAI); the ABA International Conference in Bucharest; the Ai You Foundation in Beijing; Behavior Momentum India (BMI); the Association for Behaviour Analysis Australia (ABAA); the California Association for Behavior Analysis (CalABA); the Council of Autism Service Providers (CASP); and the International Annual Conference on Autism, Challenges and Solutions in Abu Dhabi, among others.
Dr. Tu has served on the board of advisors for Best Buddies International; as Editor-in-Chief of Operants magazine; on CalABA’s Board of Directors, including as its President; and as President of the B.F. Skinner Foundation. Additionally, Dr. Tu is founder and director of ABA Unlimited (ABAU), a behavior analysis consulting and continuing education provider. In 2021, ABAU developed a new verified ABA course sequence for Peking University School of Medical Education in Beijing.
Prior to her work for Easterseals, Dr. Tu was founder and director of Center for Behavioral Sciences (CBS) for 16 years, an ABA provider with over 100 employees throughout California. In 2019, CBS was acquired by Easterseals Southern California.
