In today's contemporary Australian classrooms, teachers can expect to have a range of diverse students. While all students are diverse learners, many classes will include one or more students who have been diagnosed with an intellectual, sensory, physical, or learning disability. According to Power and Costley (2014), one in one hundred and sixty children is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is therefore essential, under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA), the Melbourne Declaration 2008 and the Professional Standards, that teachers understand emotional, mental and physical characteristics and behaviors in order to implement teaching strategies and curriculum adaptation to create an optimal learning environment. Autism is very common among young children, no research has found the sole cause of the learning disability. Autism can present different levels of learning difficulties across a spectrum that refers to multiple types of similar disorders (Hughes, Sprinkle, Katsiyanis, Ryan, McDaniel 2011), which means that children with ASD are very different from each other and they will show different characteristics. However, the characteristics commonly linked to autism can be physical, associated with differences in movement and combination of thoughts at the same time, as Kluth (2010) stated that "these difficulties can impede postures, actions, words..." (p. 11). All teachers should be aware of physical differences to avoid misinterpretations and incorrect assumptions. Another general characteristic of autism is sensory differences such as negative responses to sight, touch, hearing or touch which can affect children with autism more, influencing emotional state and behavior in the classroom (... ... middle of paper ..... . doi:10.1177/004005991104300307Kluth, P. (2010 Teaching Students with Autism in the Inclusive Classroom Baltimore, USA: Brookes Publishing Co. Ministerial Council for Education, lo early childhood development and youth affairs. (2009). on Educational Goals for Young Australians. Retrieved from http://www.mceetya.edu.au/mceecdyamelbourne_declaration,25979.htmlPower, A., & Costley, D. (2014). ) In-service teacher learning among students with autism spectrum disorder, The Australasian Journal of Special Education, 38(1), 34-50 doi:10.1017/2014.6Spedding, S., & Dally, K. (2011) Understanding and support of literacy skills. Inclusion in action (pp. 315-355 South Melbourne, Australia: CengageLearning.