Author(s)

Iskra Pavez-Soto¹, Juan Eduardo Ortiz-López², Pamela Villegas-Enoch³, Nicolás Grandón-Cánepa³, Lina Magalhaes⁴, Priscilla Jara³, Constanza Olguín³

¹Education Research Center, Universidad Bernardo O’Higgins, Santiago, Chile.
²Early Childhood Education Department, Universidad de Las Américas, Santiago, Chile.
³Department of Phonoaudiology, Universidad Bernardo O’Higgins, Santiago, Chile.
⁴Department of Sociology, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Froniánopolis, Brasil.

The objective of this article is to analyze the school insertion processes experienced by Haitian migrant children in Chile, from the point of view of the intervention carried out by professionals in the field of Phonoaudiology. Although school entry is guaranteed in the country, Haitian children face a language barrier because they speak Creole and must learn a new language (Spanish) without the availability of official reception and support programs. This study employed a qualitative approach, and semi-structured interviews were applied to professionals of Speech Therapy working in public schools in the Metropolitan Region. It is concluded that the main difficulties are found in the comprehension and expressive areas of Chilean Spanish, although the phonoaudiological intervention has facilitated the learning of the new language, also supporting teachers and families. Finally, social and linguistic intervention is an emerging area for the profession. 

Migration, Childhood, Phonoaudiology, School Insertion, Linguistic Immersion, Chile

Pavez-Soto, I., Ortiz-López, J.E., Villegas-Enoch, P., Grandón-Cánepa, N., Magalhaes, L., Jara, P. and Olguín, C. (2022) Inclusion of Migrant Children in School in Chile. Open Access Library Journal, 9, 1-12. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1109391.