Pool trusts ensure care of adults with special needs

“Keys! Keys!” David Weisbord says as he tugs at his father’s hand, pulling him toward the door.

“OK, Child, we’ll go for a ride,” Seth Weisbord says with loving exasperation.

A ride with dad around David’s Culver City neighborhood is one of David’s favorite diversions, and Seth is happy to indulge.

“One of our biggest concerns is how to fill his days in a meaningful way,” Seth says.

David is 28 and severely impacted by autism; he is largely nonverbal and also has a degenerative nerve disorder that atrophies the muscles in his arms and legs.

Seth Weisbord and his wife, Beth, have worked hard to assure their son’s quality of life. They bought David a three-bedroom, breeze-crossed bungalow in Culver City, which he shares with a roommate, also disabled. David also has round-the-clock caregivers who guide him in simple household tasks and life skills, and take him for walks in the neighborhood, or for a drive out to Griffith Park or the movies. He takes weekly therapeutic gymnastics and swimming lessons, and he is learning to use an app on his iPad to communicate through pictures. On weekends, he rides his adult tricycle around a nearby park while his caregiver jogs alongside.