Remember back to kindergarten? Did you ever wonder where other children went when they disappeared for hours, returning only for naptime or lunch?

At Hazel Harvey Elementary, Xavier Pandrea's classmates never need to wonder where he goes when they're not looking.

Xavier, a special education student, might be different, but he participates in many of the same activities as his peers, said Intervention Specialist Victoria Hessey. "We want to expose him as much as possible to the regular curriculum and classroom," she said.

He has congenital muscular dystrophy, a condition also known as muscle eye brain disease. He doesn't speak and is cognitively disabled, said Kristy Pandrea, his mother. "He understands a lot, but cannot express it."

Pointing out her own children's Chippewa special education program experience, Jean Kerr, Intervention Specialist said, "I strongly believe in inclusion. If you saw my daughter today, you wouldn't even be able to tell she's different and my son has many friends. He's popular."

Although he participates in the same activities as other kindergarten students, Xavier relies on Lauren Shrock, his personal aid to adapt topics to his level. "She is very in tune with him and recognizes his needs," said Kristy Pandrea, adding that her son definitely has ways of making them known.

Throughout the day, "He makes a lot of choices," Shrock said, explaining if times get difficult for Xavier Pandrea, the pledge of allegiance usually calms him down. "I just put his hand over his heart," she said.

Before introducing Xavier to kindergarten, Kristy Pandrea said the district allowed the family to tour classrooms and meet the teachers before deciding on enrollment. Remarking it was a challenge to choose between available special needs programs, she said, "It took a lot of time and thought to decide where he'd fit in."

In the end, because she "wanted him to be close," she said he would be best served by regular classroom inclusion with occasional intervention pull-outs. "They (the district and teachers) have done a great job thinking out of the box. This is a nice way for kids to have exposure to disabilities, which they would not have had otherwise."

Including Xavier in a traditional classroom setting has helped him weather transitions more smoothly, she said. "He's gotten so much more tolerant of transitioning between activities."

Inclusion gives him a chance to socialize and interact with adults and children, "and he thrives on that," she said, noting he laughs when he's engaged in fun activities and perks up when a familiar voice enters the room.

One familiar voice he hears often is that of kindergarten teacher Carolyn Garbinskey, who has witnessed her class accept Xavier's differences first hand. "They don't treat him differently from any other child. He's just part of the class."

Watching him play "restaurant" with classmates Jordan Souksavanh, William Browning and Michaylah Graves, she said, "you expect little girls to be nice to him, but there's a couple of little boys who have really helped him out."

Souksvanh told Xavier "the phone's for you," while Graves offered him a plastic chicken wing. "He has made them tap into an understanding of compassion and diversity," said Garbinskey, tearing up. "I've never experienced something to this depth."