Judith Giencke Kimball, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA, has worked as a clinician and university professor in occupational therapy for over 50 years. She was the Founding Director and now Professor Emeritus of the Occupational Therapy curriculum at the University of New England in Portland, Maine. She has served as Occupational Therapy Director at a University Hospital, Occupational Student Education Coordinator at a VA Hospital, a consultant to many school-based occupational therapy programs, and has consistently maintained a part-time private practice. She worked extensively with Dr. A. Jean Ayes, the developer of Sensory Integration theory and practice, and Patricia Wilbarger, the originator of clinical treatments for sensory defensiveness. Dr. Kimball speaks widely at professional conferences, and her numerous publications include book chapters and research articles in peer-reviewed journals. Her academic degrees include a BS in Occupational Therapy, an MS in Special Education, a Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy, and a PhD in Psychology. Family ties to the military inspired her work with veterans, a work that in turn inspired her interest in researching and applying innovative and effective treatments for the sensory components of trauma. She is the oldest of five children of a career Air Force officer who served during and after WWII; her brother was an Air Force officer during the Vietnam era; and her son-in-law served with the Army 10th Mountain Division in Bosnia. Her own "interesting" Air Force story is of watching a helicopter in flight suddenly explode from across the street on the military base where her family lived when she was 9 or 10. She reports that "pieces fell down on me, but surprisingly they were only laminated plywood, not metal. The MPs (military police) told us kids to pick up any pieces we found and turn them in to them. The experience didn't seem unusual at the time, although it left vivid memories and it certainly does in looking back."
