Little boy from Lincoln that had Asperger's syndrome

[Bill the Cat]

I know that several of our members have Asperger's syndrome. This little boy did, and suffered a terrible death because of bullying over it...

http://journalstar.com/news/local/fa...938191d7c.html



Kids picked on Ben Lewis because he was different.

They always had, his family said, but it was worse since he and his mom had moved to Lincoln from Omaha in October.

But nobody was expecting what happened Saturday, when the 15-year-old boy with Asperger's syndrome found a pistol, went near the shed in his grandparents' backyard and shot himself.

Ben's family took him off life support and decided there was a message in his death: Put resources behind antibullying policies like the one at Lincoln Public Schools.


Ben's family said because of his Asperger's, Ben had trouble communicating. Even when he mentioned problems to family, he'd quickly change the subject and offer few details.

He'd mentioned several times to family last week that kids were picking on him and that they were meaner here than in Omaha, Green said.

When he mentioned it Friday to his uncle, Jeremy Bibelheimer, who lives in San Diego but was in town for a family wedding, Bibelheimer tried to cheer him up and told him kids only do that because they're insecure and want to make themselves feel better.


Then on Saturday, he and his grandma went out for breakfast, went shopping, took Ben to get his chickenpox vaccine. It was a good day, his grandma Deanna Bibelheimer said, and Ben seemed happy.

But after they got home and Bibelheimer went downstairs to take a nap, Ben apparently found a gun they'd forgotten was in the house, hidden on a high shelf in the back of a closet.

The neighbors heard the shot, called 911 and alerted the family.

Family members didn't find a note, but they did notice something different.

Ben had taken all his clothes out of the closet and packed his suitcases, ready to go home.



Read more: http://journalstar.com/news/local/fa...#ixzz1eRjsgPoK

[Sparko]

That's sad. kids can be pretty cruel in school.

[Leonhard]

Tragic unnecessary dumb stupid awful loss. I wish I had better way of summarizing how sad I feel about news like that. Unfortunately its not difficult for me to understand why he did it since I once had similar thoughts.

Kids can be monsters, and that doesn't excuse their bullying. The first pathetic fatalist who worms in here and call bullying of that kind inevitable, gets a sound boo from me and hopefully from everyone else posting here. I'm not an expert in the matter, but I know some schools are better than others in managing bullying.

Find out who's best at it, figure out how and why it works, and copy it (or try improving on it). Doesn't sound too difficult.