Children with autism vary greatly in their symptoms of the disorder, now more commonly known among the autism community as Autism Spectrum Disorder or ASD. Symptoms of ASD can range from very mild, such as a person with high functioning Asperger’s Syndrome, or very severe such as a child who is totally non-verbal and has very little ability to care for him or herself.

Here are three common behaviors in children with autism.

Behavior Number One: Children with autism have an extreme need for routine and structure. Despite the severity of a child’s autism, most have an extreme need for routine, order and structure in their daily lives. They do best when on a routine schedule, preferably one that is posted visually with words and/or pictures.

Children with autism frequently want to eat the same types of food and drinks, some becoming very picky eaters. Perhaps more common than a picky eater is that the children will come to expect a certain food associated with a certain event. For instance, if the class always has pizza on Mondays, and pizza is not offered on Monday, a child with autism might get upset at this change in routine.

In the same regard, children with ASD can become upset when people change, such as in the case of a substitute teacher, a change in seats, or even visual displays changing from one day to the next. An example would be that all year the eight basic colors have been displayed on a bulletin board in a classroom. Very little reference has been made to the bulletin board but one day the red one falls down as the custodian in cleaning. No one notices but when the child with autism walks into the room, he says, “Red!” Being unable to communicate what he is talking about, he gets upset until finally someone is able to figure out what he is talking about.

» Read more: 3 Common Behaviors of Kids With Autism

Whether you are a brand new teacher or have worked in the field for 25 years, here are some suggestions for setting up a classroom for children with special needs.

Suggestion #1: Find out as much as you can about your students.

Sometimes new teachers go in and start setting up their classrooms without first learning anything about their students. This is a mistake, especially if your students have special needs. For instance, I had a student this year who had pica, meaning she ate a number of inedibles such as glue sticks, chalk, pencil erasers, and more. Because I knew that, I knew to keep these items locked up instead of putting them out on display the first day.

Read through cumulative records. Review IEPs and Multi-factored evaluations. Call parents or even do home visits if permissible and advisable.

Suggestion #2: Take inventory of what you have and Draw out a classroom diagram.

Make a list of what you have and what you need. Make sure you have enough desks, chairs, and tables for your students. If you are going to use tables and chairs, I suggest you try to get chairs for each of these places, so you will need twice as many chairs as students.

Draw a rectangle. Add doors, windows, bulletin boards and other “static” items. Draw out your basic classroom as below.

» Read more: 3 Suggestions For Setting Up a Special Education Classroom