Nature or Nurture Communities have always had some children with special needs, with physical, emotional, and neurological disorders. In some eras, and today in some nations, the education of such children was neglected. Indeed, many children were excluded from normal life even before they quit trying. Now in the United States, every child is entitled to school. Categories have changed, probably because of nurture, not nature. Thus, teratogens and changing parental and community practice probably caused the rise in autism spectrum disorder and developmental delay, the decrease in intellectual disability, and the fluctuation in learning disorders apparent here.