Adults with autism could become the hidden face of the disorder due to a lack of adult-specific diagnostic tools, a researcher has warned.

Flinders University PhD candidate Clare Holmes (right) is beginning a four-year study to develop tools to improve the diagnosis and understanding of autism characteristics later in life. Holmes said many diagnostic tools could identify autism-spectrum disorder in childhood but detection in older people often relied on information that was difficult for adults to obtain or poorly targeted. She said anecdotal evidence showed a growing number of people were being diagnosed in adulthood. "Some people are diagnosed as adults because they are going through the diagnostic process with their child...