problems with unix & command

My objective is to check the value of a variable which I will set it in the command line after sleep time mentioned in the script.I have executed my script in the background then pressed Enter.I have set temporary variable like below export PAUSE="PAUSE".I am not getting the value of the variable after SLEEP time mentioned in the script.Please help me.I have to print the value of the variable given in the command prompt once the script resumes after sleep time.

Example:scriptname &(script will sleep for 10 seconds)

Pressed Enter

export PAUSE="PAUSE"

when the script resumes I am not getting the value of the variable PAUSE.

When a child process runs no variables are visible to the parent process. So if you create or change a variable in your background process you will not see it in the interactive (parent) process

How to accomplish this.Any help would be appreciated.

You don't. Variables don't work that way.

You must talk in other ways. Perhaps print to stdout, and have the parent read from its output.