Background: Hao-Fountain syndrome (HAFOUS) is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder manifesting as several known symptoms, including speech and language delay, behavioral abnormalities, and intellectual disability. This rare condition is usually diagnosed by heterozygous deletion or mutation in the ubiquitin-specific protease 7 gene in conjunction with phenotype features.
Case presentation: We report the case of a 5-year-old Persian girl with this rare syndrome. The process of diagnosis, from perinatal examinations to the latest laboratory and clinical tests, is described for the first time in Iran.
Conclusion: Reporting all the symptoms of such a rare genetic case in detail emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary teamwork and the necessity of raising awareness among therapists about probable upcoming problems; sharing such evident information with parents would help them manage the complexity of raising children with rare syndromes.
Keywords: USP7; Case report; Developmental delay; Hao–Fountain syndrome; Occupational therapy; Speech delay; Speech impairment.
© 2025. The Author(s).