Ronald Leslie Dawson is a Special Educational Needs educator, psychologist, researcher and author and co-author of numerous books and articles concerning the education of pupils with SEN. His most important publication is The Macmillan Teacher Information Pack, a pack of informative materials to assist teachers of pupils with special educational needs in mainstream and special schools. He has also written two novels and six children's story books. In 2012 he wrote the lyrics and co-composed the music of "Lest we forget", a song of Remembrance. It was first performed in public on 16 September 2012 by the Wellington Male Voice Choir in the New Zealand Parliament building at the inauguration of New Zealand's Malayan Veterans Day. It has since been performed at Remembrance Services, Concerts and Memorials in the UK, Australia, Canada and Cyprus. In 2014 he wrote the lyrics and co-composed the music a novelty dance song "The Brazilian Attack", which was recorded by the Copacabana Brass. He created, wrote, directed and produced the National Children's WW1 Remembrance Concert at the National Exhibition Centre on the 3rd of November, 2018.
Biography
Dawson was born in 1940 at Dudley Road Hospital, Birmingham, the son of Clarice Joan Wheeler. He was adopted aged two by Thomas Dawson, a canal boatman, and his wife, Henrietta of Kingstanding, Birmingham.
Research Officer for the national Schools' Council Research Project, The Education of Disturbed Pupils.
Director and Research Psychologist of a five-year research project, the Education of Disturbed Children,. Project funded by Urban Aid and Barnsley Local Education Authority.
Adviser for Special Education, Hampshire LEA.
Inspector for Special Education, Staffordshire LEA.
Head of the Special Education and Habilitation Studies Department, principal lecturer at King Alfred's College,
Significant publications
Disturbed Pupils in Special Schools : First findings from a Schools Council project.
Special Provision for Disturbed Pupils. Statistical findings and analysis of the project the Schools Council Project Education of Disturbed Children.
The Teacher Information Packs a pack of one-hundred and twenty-three information units designed to assist teachers to work more effectively in relation to pupils across the whole range of special educational needs. Originator and overall editor of the published version and was the author or co-author of over eighty per-cent of the materials. A number of British LEAs installed TIPs in all of their schools as did a number of overseas countries. TIPs was described as an ‘Opus Magnum’ in the Journal of the Association of Educational Psychologists.
The Baby Progress Guides, originator, author and co-developer. Pack of assessment and developmental guides and equipment for the parents of infants from birth to two and a half years.
Numerous articles and research papers published in academic and research journals, and reports and reviews commissioned by the Times Educational Supplement.
'The Dawson File', regular satirical column in Special Children magazine.
Novels
The Last Viking : The untold story of the world's greatest heist,. tells how a Birmingham gang captured and looted the island of Guernsey in the 1950s. It was optioned for film within a year of its publication.
The Worm that Flies in the Night : A Diary of Incestuous Love and Serial Murder, takes its title from William Blake's poem, The Sick Rose. It is the story of a psychopath who is obsessed by the Oedipus myth and kills to gain access to his mother's bed.
Books for children
The Amazing Adventures of Scary Bones the Skeleton, are fantasy stories for children aged 5 to 12 years:-
