Bio

Paula started working with gifted children in 1977 when she was employed as a teacher in a TAG (talented and gifted) pull-out program at a middle school in central Pennsylvania. While teaching there, she received a Master’s degree in education with a concentration in gifted children. After five years, at the age of 29, she decided it was time to move to the wild west and so she headed to Oregon where she was employed in the Eugene Public Schools as a TAG teacher, in grades 1-5. Along with her classroom work, Paula started training teachers at the University of Oregon and making presentations to parents of gifted children, in addition to teaching youngsters for several summers in the University of Oregon’s Super Summer program. In 1990, Paula had an early midlife crisis and went back to school for a Master’s degree in counseling. Upon graduation, she worked for four years at a mental health agency before starting her private practice. Soon after she started seeing clients, it occurred to her that she should focus her counseling practice on gifted adults and youth, due to her years of experience, her interest in giftedness and her knowledge that this group had particular mental health needs that were often overlooked or misunderstood. Paula continued to make presentations to parents of gifted children, many of them through Oregon State University’s summer program, and began to write articles for the Birth to Three column in the Eugene Register-Guard. She’s also been published in the journal Advanced Development, the Psychotherapy Networker and the Annals of the American Psychotherapy Association. In 2001, her book, Ten Tips for Women Who Want to Change the World Without Losing Their Friends, Shirts, or Minds was released. About the time her book went to press, Paula was accepted into a PhD program. But, at the last minute, she decided to exchange the PhD for Argentine tango lessons. She still does not regret this decision. And finally, for those of you who are wondering, yes, Prober is her real last name.