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Case Study

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders

  • 22 Accesses

Synonyms

Case report

Definition

Case studies are frequent in both biomedical and behavioral psychological research. A typical case study (sometimes referred to as case report) provides a focused report of an individual or series of individuals to illustrate some important issue relevant to clinical work or research. Many of the conditions now recognized as significant causes of developmental disability first appeared as case reports, for example, Down syndrome and childhood autism. Sometimes case reports are used to draw attention to other relevant issues, for example, new approaches to treatment. Case studies from the behavioral literature may be used to illustrate the possible effectiveness of a new intervention, for example, the subject is used as his/her own control with data collected pre-, during, and postintervention. In other fields such as business or law, case studies take other formats.

Case studies may be primarily descriptive or may be more theoretical in nature....

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References and Reading

  • Bailey, D. B., Jr., Mesibov, G. B., Hatton, D. D., Clark, R. D., Roberts, J. E., & Mayhew, L. (1998). Autistic behavior in young boys with fragile X syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 28(6), 499–508.

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  • Down, J. L. H. (1866). Observations on an ethnic classification of idiots. Clinical Lecture Reports of London Hospital, 3, 259–262.

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  • Kanner, L. (1943). Autistic disturbances of affective contact. The Nervous Child, 2, 217–250.

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  • Rutter, M., Bailey, A., Bolton, P., & Le Couteur, A. (1994). Autism and known medical conditions: Myth and substance. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 35(2), 311–322.

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  • Volkmar, F. R., & Nelson, D. S. (1990). Seizure disorders in autism. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 29(1), 127–129.

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  • Wiznitzer, M. (2004). Autism and tuberous sclerosis. Journal of Child Neurology, 19(9), 675–679.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Child Study Center, Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Psychology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Fred R. Volkmar

Authors
  1. Fred R. Volkmar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fred R. Volkmar .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT, USA

    Fred R. Volkmar

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Volkmar, F.R. (2020). Case Study. In: Volkmar, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_1385-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_1385-3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6435-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6435-8

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