IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 23, Issue 4, Ver. 2 (April. 2018) PP 10-13 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/0837-2304021013 www.iosrjournals.org 10 | Page Fathers and Their Disabled Children: Playing and Innate Intersubjectivity Alethea V. KampaNunes 1 , Geraldo A. Fiamenghi-Jr 2 1 (Private Practice, PR, Brazil) 2 (UNIFAAT – Department of Psychology, SP, Brazil) Corresponding Author:Geraldo A. Fiamenghi-Jr Abstract:This study aimed to observe interactions between fathers and their disabled children during playing situations, based on the Theory of Innate Intersubjectivity. Two disabled children, aged 1 and 1-and-a-half-year- old and their fathers were selected and filmed in their homes, during playtime, for a 30-minute period. Based in the assertion that the child has the ability to affective and adequately respond to, and synchronically interact with others, observed behaviors were divided into two main categories: negotiatory and emotional. Playing was analyzed according to the child‟s ability to maintain them. Results showed that interactions between father and child occurred, although they were frequently broken in synchrony (even with the presence of irritation in one of the children), showing their ability of creating and sustaining a game, despi te their limitations, with their fathers‟ help. Keywords: Father-Child Relations, Disability, Intersubjectivity, Play --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date of Submission: 28-03-2018 Date of acceptance: 12-04-2018 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. INTRODUCTION Contrary to common assertion, infants are not chaotic beings responding only by way of reflexes but have the ability to communicate with others since birth. The theory of Innate Intersubjectivity postulates human mental development as a fundamentally innate process of intersubjective interactions and asserts that newborns are already organized as psychological subjects, searching for regulated interactions with the subjective processes of other human beings 1,2,3,45,6 . Therefore, interactions between parents and their children are important birth, as infants are born motivated for intersubjective exchanges with sympathetic others. The infant‟s self is organized to engage in interactions with others 7 . Fiamenghi-Jr 1,2 explains that interactions between infants seem to be regulated by the sympathetic exchange of emotions, with no qualitative differences in motivation for interactions between two infants and interactions between adults and infants. Research with 18- to 24-month-old deaf children and their parents showed the importance of interacting with fathers for the development of children‟s intersubjective relat ions and their effect in future relationships 8 . Social behavior coordination in family contexts will serve as a foundation for the child‟s experiences in social contexts 9 . Researchers observed fathers facing more difficulties in adjusting to their children‟s chronic illnesses due to physical limitations of the disease and reported more stress in work environment as well as an increasing sense of responsibility in supporting the mothers when dealing with the child 10 . There are also changes in fathers‟ routines and activities concerning extensive areas of their lives, particularly financial hindrances, limitation in social activities, and worries about future, while experiencing having a child with chronic illness 11 . Occupational therapists are unique in their perspective of recreation as an occupation 12 . Recreation is used as a tool to generate therapeutic situations for patients to experiment new behaviors and abilities, lowering the possibility of risks and failures of daily life. The definition of recreation and the properties of playing activities have been studied, aiming to develop testing and assessment using games that make it possible to investigate the relation between recreation and other abilities, focusing on human beings‟ competence to adapt and solve problems 13 . Playing behavior is flexible, offering new areas to children‟s development and adaptation 14 . As it allows for a pressure free environment, where complex behavioral capacities demanded to adult life may be combined in different ways, without worrying about results, children are free to attend to the means of behaviors, not to their ends. Child‟s play is a behavioral manifestation of intrinsic motivation and turns into a critical area for the development of competences. Playing is a means for learning, involving child‟s actions towards an object or person (feeling, perceiving, thinking about), and depending on the nature and place of playing, it might incentive or inhibit player‟s behavior 15 . If recreation and work are viewed as contexts for control, acquisition and adaptation, playing is a fundamental medium for the cultivation of capacities, abilities,