My name is Ellen and I am married to Sven. Together we have seven children, three of whom I gave birth to and two of those are on the spectrum (in very different places). We are what the Germans call a patchwork family (and a very large one at that). Travel has always been an important part of our lives and we expected it to be the same in our married family life, but quickly found out that autism can change what travel looks like for us. Because the value of travel was instilled in both of us from childhood on, we are determined to find ways to navigate the spectrum on the road.

Our Children

We thought long and hard about how to be respectful and protect our boys and put their journey on the internet. For now, we will refer to the A-Team (what we affectionately call our autistic duo) as F (the older) and T (the younger. We also have E who is 3.5 and by all indications neurotypical. Together these three comprise the Littles or as F prefers the Boys. The older children from Sven’s first marriage we refer to as the Originals and they are broken down into the Bigs (a girl, 21 and boy, 19, both of whom are living away at University) and the Middles (a girl, 15 and boy, 13). When our children appear on this site we will not include their faces.

F

F, 7, is a delightful and studious boy approximately 90% of the time. While he was delayed in his speech development, he is fluent in both German and English, but his pronunciation of both still requires work with a speech therapist. His issues are mostly of a social nature and he is extremely sensitive to change. He recently started school and this has been excellent for him (defying all our expectations).

T

T, 6, is extremely lovable and requires a ton of body contact. He is non-verbal (perhaps non-speaking is better as he is capable of all the sounds involved in speech), but seems to understand many languages fluently (self-taught). The large challenges with T are biting (and lately hard pinching) and running away.

Ellen and Sven

I am Canadian by birth, but have lived in the USA, Israel, Romania, and Germany. I have a doctorate in theology and a masters degree in Counseling. I am considering going back to school to complete a Doctorate of Psychology focussing on the use of technology in autism therapy. In 2005, Sven and I met on an archaeological excavation in Israel, but were only friends for a decade before we married in 2016. It is mostly my face and “voice” you will see on this site.

Sven is German and we live in a small town in the German state of Saxony where Sven works for the Lutheran Church. He also has a doctorate in theology and is the author of several books and articles. He also has a legal background and is extremely handy (no one can build Ikea furniture faster or fix my washer better – I am pretty proud to be his wife).

We travel as a family a few times a year. Travel looks very different since our boys were diagnosed (and we have begun to navigate the different approaches of North Americans and Europeans to travel). Seeing the world and experiencing other cultures in person is one of our core values!