HOBART | Young Haylie Barnes was brief and to the point in summing up her summer camp experience. "I had a lot of fun playing with my friends," she said.

The 5-year-old Portage girl was one of 22 youngsters, ages 3 to 5, attending this year's Preschool Inclusion Summer Camp at the Hobart Family YMCA.

The camp brings together children, with and without special needs, with the goal of developing understanding and acceptance while learning that differences do not have to create barriers.

Children with special needs include those with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism or developmental delays. Staff members from Hobart's Center for Possibilities help run the two-week camp, which included art projects, basketball, story time, swimming, a wheel chair obstacle course and balloon volleyball.

Michelle Higel, the center's community relations coordinator, recalls one instance in which a youngster found a frog in the grass and placed it on the tray of another camper who was in a wheelchair. Before long, the children who gathered around were fascinated with the frog and, she said, "The wheelchair faded into the background. It became a sharing experience together. It helps children develop compassion, kindness, caring and patience."

Paula Mock of Hobart, whose 5-year-old daughter, Sydney, has Down syndrome, agrees. "It gives her the opportunity to play and communicate with other children. It's a worry for parents whether others will notice her special needs."

Mock said that when Sydney attended the first inclusion camp three years ago, "It was the first group interaction we had with kids with and without special needs. It proved there's no reason to be apprehensive about her mainstreaming with other children."

At the end of the camp, youngsters made picture memory/scrapbooks chronicling their daily adventures with the help of volunteers from the national Buben/Aiken Foundation, an organization working to bridge the gap between young people with special needs and the world around them. For the third straight year, the foundation provided a grant to help fund the camp.

One volunteer, Susan Matthes of Chicago, contracted polio as a youngster and gets around with a aid of a motorized scooter. She said she gets as much out of the program as the children do. "It brings people together," she said. "They didn't even see my scooter. It's heart-warming. This whole atmosphere...it always touches your heart."