As an occupational therapist (OT) with background in Ayres'  Sensory Integration, I'd also suggest to consider the individual hyper-sensitivities and sensory needs of autistic individuals. This may include:

- carpets to dampen noises

- no fluorescent lights, lights you can dim

- rooms painted in darker, calming colors (Bluish - purple)

- avoidance of smells (e.g., not kitchen close to classrooms) 

- opportunities to withdraw (tent, tunnel, corner or quiet room with a baby pool full of pillows)

- opportunities to take in vestibular-proprioceptive input as needed (trampoline, heavy work activities, swing, hammock)

Additionally, look into TEACH books to get some guidance about providing structure and visual supports.

You may want to get an ASI-certified OT as a consultant for your project!

As a physical therapist with background in Ayres and experience with visual impairment people. Also contribution of cerebral visual impairments such as crowding is very important to this subject.

You may ask for support of ASI- certified OT with expertise for CVI.

I would agree that sensory input and its impact on learning is important element to consider, but of course you have to think of this in terms of your cultural context. Children's ability to cope with sensory information does change based on exposure and maturation.

As suggested above principle of TEACCH such as reduced levels of distractions and making the environment visual and predictable can also help. There are a few journal articles which have explored this topic.