The Story of Parents With Purpose

---So Far

Hello!  My name is Donna Bateman and I am the founder of Parents with Purpose. I was born in Texas and grew up in Grand Prairie.  I attended Brigham Young University, where I met my husband, Bart---luckily, a fellow Texan!  Following college, we moved back to Texas and have lived in Plano since 1989.   I am the very proud mother of eight children---Clark, Katy, Preston, Annie, Kent, Callie, Carson and Dawson.   Along with raising my family, I have always had a love of teaching.  I taught an in-home preschool for ten years and have taught workshops and classes on Cub Scout procedures, how to teach music to children, classroom management, disciplining the difficult child, successful family management, effective families, and others.

I began my journey into the world of Child Brain Development on February 1, 2000 with the birth of my eighth child, Dawson.  Dawson tied a true knot in his umbilical cord causing periodic pre-natal anoxia.  He was initially diagnosed with nystagmus and strabismus---leading to functional blindness, but later was given an additional diagnosis of global developmental delay.   The worst part of the diagnosis was the pronouncement “there is nothing you can do.” 

Through many miracles and hours of research I came upon a program that had successfully helped parents of children with brain injuries do a home therapy program.  I attended some classes about child brain development and our entire family began working with Dawson right away.  After three months, Dawson crept on his hands and knees for the first time in his life!  This motivated us to work even harder!

Years have passed since those days when I had a desperate, icy grip on my heart.  Dawson has amazed everyone who has seen his journey.    He is reading two to three years ahead of his peers.  He walks and runs.  He is very funny and keeps us on our toes.  He is not completely cured, but he is well on his way.  We are certainly prepared to continue our work with him and, thankfully, we know just what he needs.

Just as any mother would, I used what I had learned about the brain to help Dawson with my other seven children and saw tremendous results.  This includes bringing one daughter from being miserably dyslexic and unable to read independently, to learning easily in the talented and gifted program at school.  This information helped me teach them in a way that maximized their potential, helped me understand what was “going on in there” whenever obstacles came their way, and gave me the tools I needed to deal with the root cause of any issues---not just find coping skills or a way to circumvent the problem.  The knowledge I had gained was truly universal in its application and our whole family has benefited.

Two things became abundantly clear:  1) I had to learn more---I was insatiable, and 2) I had to share what I had learned with other parents.  When you learn of something good (TERRRIFIC!), you always want to pass it along.   I wanted to stand on the rooftops and shout out to ALL parents.  I wanted them to understand their children’s development and know the wonderful, exciting and pro-active role they held.  I knew this when I took my first class about child brain development in December 2000 and as time passed those desires only strengthened.  We decided as a family to make the sacrifice necessary for me to become certified to teach parents, evaluate children and design individualized home programs for them.

I received my formal training at The Family Hope Center in Blue Bell, PA as a Certified Child Development Evaluator.    My course of study included one-on-one instruction from Child Brain Developmentalists, Matthew and Carol Newell and their entire staff.  The Newells have worked with over 15,000 children over a period  25+ years each.  They have guided parents from more than 15 countries as they have brought their children from blindness to reading, from deafness to hearing/understanding, from immobility to crawling/creeping/walking, from inattentiveness/lack of focus to appropriate attention spans. 

My certification from The Family Hope Center qualifies me to evaluate a child’s development, design  innovative individualized programs, and teach about this program for well children and those with mild to moderate issues.  This unique method has been shown in independent studies to help children progress 300% faster than the national average!!!¹

  

¹ UDSMR's complete "Comparison of Functional Progress Report”.  WeeFim Study, University of Buffalo, Dec. 2006.

My Family


Mayor of Plano honors us as 2001 Plano Family of the Year