1. Of Mice and Men Background Research By: GRAP (Lauren, Charissa, Tyler, and Kohl)

2. Charissa May Historical Background Starting in 1929, Europe and The United States were hit with an abnormally long and severe depression. There were several events/people that contributed to the depression, but the main causes were the stock market crash in 1929, the banks went bankrupt, and the drought. Because of all these problems, people began to spend less money and therefore businessess began to fail. In order to protect American businesses, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff was created in 1930 a high-tariff on all imports. This led to less trade, and therefore hurt our country as well as those that we ended trade with. Other than these complications, there was the drought that started in 1931. These conditions were particularly bad in a large area called "The Dust Bowl". The Dust Bowl was in the middle of the United States including Texas, Oklahoma,

3. Colorado, New Mexico, and Kansas. Due to the drought, all the dirt had no roots to hold it into the ground and dust storms began to sweep across empty fields. Farmers had to move and find jobs, food, and shelter. The Dust Bowl began to flatten and look like a desert. The dust went everywhere, in houses, cars, burying houses, and speading out like a blanket. Rain ended the drought in 1939. These devastations caused many Americans to starve, lose their jobs, move from their homes, and their crops to fail. However, the Depression ended when the industiral boom of World War II pulled us out of it. Historical Background Continued

4. Life of a Migrant Worker Life for a migrant worker was very hard that had to move from place to place looking for more work. Most of these workers were just trying to maintain a steady income during the time of the Great Depression. They would many times follow a harvest around what ever state that they were working in. Many of these migrant workers were living in the states of Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri before they moved. They moved away because some of them wanted to try to make more money. The majority though moved because of the Dust Bowl. Those migrant workers that moved away because of the dust bowl moved to California. They moved to California because of the moderate climate that allowed a variety of crops to be grown there. These migrant workers would move around the state to follow the harvest so that they would keep making money. Kohl Orner

5. John Steinbeck John Steinbeck was born in California and grew up in a moderate family. He worked through Stanford University, however never graduated. Tortilla Flat was his first book that made him widely popular. Moving on from this humorous book, he continued to write several more serious books. These books lead up to what many believe is his best book, The Grapes of Wrath. After this Steinbeck continued to write. He died in New York City in 1968. John's writings are under the Social Novel catagory. His books usually have to do about the economic problems of the rural working class. The title of his book was derived from the Robert Burns poem, to a Mouse. The poem's message is that it doesn't matter if you are as insignifigant as a mouse or as important as a human, no plan goes exactly how you imagine it and you can never know what will happen. Tyler Hurst

6. List of Steinbeck's literary works: Tortilla Flat Dubious Battle The Winter of Our Discontent The Long Valley Travels with Charley East of Eden The Grapes of Wrath

7. What are the symptoms? Continued infantile behavior Decreased learning ability Failure to meet intellectual developmental markers Inability to meet educational demands at school Lack of curiosity What are the causes? Infections (present at birth or occurring after birth) Genetic abnormalities and inherited metabolic disorders Chromosomal abnormalities Environmental, Metabolic, Nutritional, or Toxic reasons. Trauma (before and after birth) Unexplained reasons Mental retardation is a condition diagnosed before age 18 that includes below-average general intellectual function, and a lack of the skills necessary for daily living. Mental Retardation: Lauren Bechtel

8. Mental Retardation(cont.): What is the goal of treatment? The primary goal of treatment is to develop the person's potential. This can be achieved though... Early training Special education and classes Social skills practice Specialist's help and continued analyzation