Latest news with #Perri
Newsweek
5 days ago
- Health
- Newsweek
Son Was Non-Verbal for 8 Years—Now All He Wants To Say Is One Phrase to Mom
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. A 12-year-old boy who was nonverbal for the first eight years of his life has found a new favorite phrase, and it is one his mom can't help but laugh about. Mom-of-three April Perri, from Poughkeepsie, in New York, suspected her son Luca was autistic before he even turned 1. "My intuition was so strong that he was autistic," Perri told Newsweek. "He didn't respond to his name … it was almost like he was deaf. He ran everywhere, had zero fear or safety awareness, and cried all the time." Alongside the challenges came some interesting quirks. "He had incredible skills like reading at 18 months, never played with toys but color-coded them, and had an obsession with numbers, letters and languages," Perri said. "We once went to a wedding when he was a toddler and he climbed all the tables and took the table number cards off and played with them for the rest of the night." As Luca grew up, it became clear to Perri there was another notable difference to the way he behaved: Luca was nonverbal. That is not out of the ordinary for a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A 2021 study in the journal Revista Paulista De Pediatria estimated around 25 to 30 percent of children with ASD fell into the category of nonverbal or minimally verbal. It nevertheless posed a challenge to Perri, who was a single mom at the time. "Luca could read words, but not ask a question, have a two-way conversation or answer a question until he was 5 years old and up," she said. "For example, if he wanted milk, he would just scream 'WHITE!!' until I figured it out." Perri took a proactive approach to her son's situation, though. She got him into a state-funded early intervention program before he was 1. That gave him a head start. Luca received daily home visits from a speech therapist as a toddler and was enrolled in a special-needs preschool where this continued. Now 12, Luca attends public school and is enrolled in the "journeys program," an initiative for kids with autism and other communication issues. In the meantime, Luca's speech has come on leaps and bounds. "Luca really started to be able to have two-way conversations and answer questions around 8 or 9 and has gotten better and better since then," Perri said. Seeing the change this has brought about in her son has been a joy for Luca's mom to witness. "It unlocked a side of him we had never had access to before that," Perri said. "I could ask, 'How was your day at school?' and actually get a sense of how he was feeling and how his day had gone. Before that, I had no idea except for the reports from the teachers." Luca's improved comprehension skills have also allowed him to step out into the world more and more. Perri said she no longer has to worry about meltdowns or safety issues when out in public or at the store. "Just this summer we went on our first vacation with him and it was amazing," Perri said. "It was so great to see him really enjoy himself like any other kid. He has worked so hard for it." Luca is a boy transformed after having found his voice. "He is now the most vocal and outgoing kid in our house and in his class," Perri said. "And, man, is he so funny and charming; his personality shines now!" Although, with his teens fast approaching, Luca has also developed a habit that, while frustrating to his mom, is nevertheless a source of amusement. It is a habit she highlighted in a video posted to Instagram under the handle @thispinklifeilive. As the clip shows, Luca can certainly talk now, but doesn't seem to be that keen on talking to his mom, preferring to respond to her questions with his new favorite phrase: "I don't want to talk right now." Not that Perri is upset at all, preferring, instead, to find the humor in it all. "I just found it ironic that we had worked so hard for so many years to develop his language, only to have him say he didn't want to talk to me," she said. "I loved his ability to self-advocate and respect his boundaries, but, man, was it funny!" Perri started posting videos to social media to "give other families like mine hope." Her message to anyone raising a child with ASD is "take it one day and a time and learn to rest, not quit." "Trust your instinct, start early and try everything," Perri said. "If plan A doesn't work, then there is always plan B to Z to try. Autism is a marathon, not a sprint."
Montreal Gazette
17-07-2025
- Business
- Montreal Gazette
Changing estimates after bids close is illegal, but Montreal did it anyway
After the sole bid on a City of Montreal contract to re-engineer the traffic lights at some intersections came in 51 per cent higher than the city's cost estimate last year, the city raised its estimate to narrow the gap. That violated the Quebec Cities and Towns Act. But the municipal department handling the call for tenders didn't stop there. Montreal's urban planning and mobility department also altered a clause in the contract tender specifications to match a noncompliant element of the bidder's offer. The $3.4-million, two-year contract that went to engineering firm FNX-INNOV Inc. passed under the media's radar. It was approved during the eighth hour of a 10-hour session of city council in June 2024, one of 50 contractual items on the meeting agenda that generated no headlines. But the contract raised red flags with the opposition at city hall, which scolded the department in council for its manoeuvres to get the contract approved. 'The million-dollar question is: Are the estimations right?' Dominic Perri, an opposition Ensemble Montréal councillor who chairs city council's contracts review committee, said in an interview last week. 'How do we know if we're paying the correct price?' His committee, which includes councillors from the opposition and the Projet Montréal majority at city hall, was created in 2011 after corruption scandals had rocked Montreal. Contracts that must be sent to the committee for review include those worth $2 million or more that either received a sole bid or have a winning bid that is 20 per cent or more above or below the city's estimate. 'What I have a problem with is when they (city departments) present a bid in front of me and the difference from the estimation is 30 to 40 per cent,' Perri said. 'In the past two years, we see this kind of spread a lot, which makes us wonder why the estimations aren't more accurate. Sometimes we get reasonable answers, sometimes we want more explanation, sometimes we find errors and we point them out.' Civil servants from the urban planning and mobility department told Perri's committee that they had estimated $2.4 million for the traffic light contract by taking the price of a contract passed in 2021 and adding inflation. When FNX-INNOV's bid came in at $3.73 million, the city department negotiated with the firm, which agreed to lower its bid to $3.4 million. (Negotiation is permitted under Quebec law when there's a sole bidder.) The firm's new price narrowed the gap with the city's estimate to 38.18 per cent from the initial 51.32 per cent. Then the city department hiked its internal estimate by $500,000 to $2.9 million, which narrowed the gap with the firm's new price to 17.27 per cent. The department told Perri's committee that the bidder had used 12-hour workdays to price the surveillance work called for in the contract. The civil servants acknowledged to the committee members that the contract tenders had specified eight-hour workdays. However, the civil servants said they had underestimated the work involved and therefore amended the eight-hour workdays to 12-hour workdays in the contract specifications. They also said they had underestimated the time required to manage the tracking of excavated contaminated soil, a new requirement in Quebec that didn't exist for the 2021 contract that served as the base for their estimate. The Cities and Towns Act says a municipality may not amend a contract after the call for tenders is closed, unless the amendment is incidental to the contract and doesn't change its nature. What is 'incidental' is a matter of opinion. However, the Act offers no wiggle room on requiring municipalities to produce internal estimates on contracts over $100,000 before opening the bids. The Quebec Municipal Affairs Department told The Gazette it can't comment on specific situations. However, the ministry confirmed that even a revised estimate must be produced before opening the envelopes. But according to a former member of Mayor Valérie Plante's Projet Montréal administration, it's 'common practice' for the city to alter its estimates after seeing the bids. 'And do you know why?' former Plateau-Mont-Royal borough mayor Luc Ferrandez, who was on the city executive committee during Plante's first term, said on his radio program on 98.5 FM in May. 'If the submitted bid exceeds the city's assessment by, say, 30 or 40 per cent, the city must publicly justify why it is proceeding anyway. And to avoid having to publicly justify why it is proceeding anyway, it will modify its assessment to reduce the difference.' Ferrandez made the assertion while discussing a recent study by the Institut de recherche et d'informations socioéconomiques (IRIS) that found Montreal's fees to private engineering firms have skyrocketed while the quality of work has diminished in the past decade. Perri's committee didn't recommend approving the traffic light contract — a first in its history, according to the opposition. The panel instead recommended suspending the awarding process and asking the Bureau de l'inspecteur général (BIG) to investigate. The committee's report on the contract 'expressed discomfort' over several aspects of the file. It noted that 'the conditions of a call for tenders should not be changed after the bids have been opened, as this could have disadvantaged other bidders who might otherwise have decided to submit a bid. This change may also suggest that the estimate was revised to make the gap more acceptable. Furthermore, it may suggest that the firm exerted influence on the department's recommendation to award the contract.' Nine firms had purchased the call for tenders package, but only FNX-INNOV submitted an offer. Less than two weeks later, the BIG issued a confidential opinion to Perri's committee: Altering the estimate and the tender specifications after the fact 'had no impact on the fairness of the contract-awarding process,' the BIG concluded. A week after, city council voted unanimously to award the contract. Perri shared the contracts committee's misgivings in council and read out the BIG's response. His colleague, Ensemble Montréal councillor Alan DeSousa, chastised the urban planning and mobility department for its actions, starting with creating an estimate 'riddled with errors.' Projet Montréal councillor Sophie Mauzerolle, a member of the city executive committee, cited the BIG's finding and said the tendering process was correctly handled. 'Certainly, some elements were omitted by the estimator, including data that could have been collected during negotiations, which explains the subsequent price adjustment,' she told council. 'But I want to reassure all my colleagues that everything was done properly.' The BIG's blessing was reason enough to greenlight the contract at council, Perri maintains. The BIG has the authority and experience to judge such matters. But even if his misgivings about the contract were allayed, Perri says he remains concerned about the city's inaccurate estimates. Montreal still uses a 'historical price' method to estimate engineering contract prices. The method takes the price of a previous contract and adds inflation to calculate an acceptable price for the bids on a new contract. By contrast, Montreal uses a 'fair value' method of estimation for construction contracts today to determine market value. The method assesses objective factors, like the real costs of items, the complexity of the work, market competition and the availability of labour. 'We would like estimates that reflect market price,' Perri said of his committee. 'It would help us do our work, and it would also help the city to better budget for its work.' A shortcoming of historical-price estimation, as the 2013 Léonard report pointed out, is it assumes that historical contract prices resulted from a free and competitive market. Colin Pratte, who authored the IRIS study, found there's little competition for Montreal's engineering contracts. Three-quarters of them are won by five firms, and a substantial portion receive a sole bid. DeSousa, meanwhile, bats the issue of what he calls 'lazy estimation' back to the BIG to investigate. DeSousa asked: Does the city regularly alter its estimates to come closer to bid prices? Have other contracts avoided scrutiny by the committee because the city narrowed the gap between its estimate and the bid price to less than 20 per cent? 'And how widespread is it?' he asked. The BIG refused to discuss the traffic light contract with The Gazette. 'The Inspector General cannot comment on a matter that has not been the subject of a public report,' BIG spokesperson Linda Boutin said. Information exchanged during the contracts committee's in-camera meetings is confidential. If it discussed the opinion it gave on the traffic light contract, she said, 'the Inspector General would be violating this confidentiality rule adopted by elected officials.'
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Lucas Perri could leave Lyon as Nottingham Forest's Matt Turner looks set to complete move
Whilst Nottingham Forest's Matt Turner (30) is on the verge of completing a move to Olympique Lyonnais, the club's current No.1, Lucas Perri (27), could be on his way out of the club, according to Gianluca Di Marzio. Turner is expected to complete a move to Turner soon, as per Fabrizio Romano. The USMNT goalkeeper is set to join in a deal worth €8m. A deal has already been verbally agreed upon between the two clubs. However, Perri, who enjoyed an excellent first full campaign with Lyon, could leave. Advertisement The Brazilian is on AC Milan's shortlist to replace Mike Maignan, who is the subject of intense interest from Chelsea. The Frenchman has expressed a desire to move to Stamford Bridge with just one year on his AC Milan contract remaining. Perri is one name on AC Milan's shortlist to replace Maignan. AS Roma's Mile Svilar and Parma's Zion Suzuki also feature on their shortlist. GFFN | Luke Entwistle
Yahoo
13-04-2025
- Yahoo
Orange County man arrested for allegedly exposing himself to elderly victims
An Orange County man was arrested for allegedly exposing himself to elderly victims. The suspect was identified as Robert Mario Perri, 66, of Laguna Woods, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department. In April 2025, investigators were notified of indecent exposure incidents taking place in Laguna Woods. Multiple elderly victims reported the crimes to authorities. Investigators discovered Perri would allegedly stalk his elderly victims by following them home. He would leave the area and later return to expose himself to his victims, authorities said. Perri was arrested for the alleged crimes and booked into the Orange County Jail on charges of indecent exposure. Detectives believe there may be more victims who have yet to come forward. A booking photo of Perri was released along with an image of his vehicle allegedly used in the crimes — a white Ford Mustang. Anyone who may be a victim or has information on the case is asked to call the OCSD's Special Victims Detail at 714-647-7419 or 714-647-7000. Anonymous tips can be provided to OC Crime Stoppers at 1-855-847-6227 or online at Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
13-04-2025
- CBS News
66-year-old man arrested for indecent exposure in Orange County
A 66-year-old Orange County man was arrested on suspicion of exposing himself to multiple victims, according to authorities. They arrested Robert Mario Perri of Laguna Woods on Tuesday for allegedly following people to their homes in a white convertible Ford Mustang, where he would then expose himself, Orange County Sheriff's Department investigators said. Multiple elderly victims made reports with OCSD about the alleged incidents, while several others also reported the allegations to Laguna Woods security officers. Perri was released from jail on Wednesday, jail records show. Anyone who knows more or who believes they were also victimized by the alleged crimes is asked to contact deputies at (714) 647-7419.
