Enter, Exit

I know I just blogged, but I thought of a school story that I wanted to tell you all - so now you have two new posts to read!
One of my students has Aspergers syndrome - a form of autism. Because of this, it seems he can only hear certain voices - he responds to his mother's voice and to his special ed. teacher and sometimes to the principal's voice. And until about Wednesday, he did not respond to my voice - except to repeat exactly what I'd said, but having no response to it. It's like he hears but doesn't comprehend meaning. I've been praying that God would somehow give me a voice that he would hear and respond to. Well...this Wednesday while at recess, this student just came up to me out of the blue and started playing this game that he'd made up. He would say, "Enter!" and then run towards the play area. Then, he'd shout, "Exit!" and run away from the play area. I started to play too. I'd say, "Enter!" and then we'd both run towards the main play area. Then, I'd shout, "Exit!" and we'd both run the other direction. We both just laughed and laughed as we played - it was such a significant teaching moment for me as I watched him giggle and his eyes light up as I said, "Enter" and "Exit." Even more moving is that now, when we are in the classroom or the class is walking in the hallway and he refuses to budge, I can say, "Enter" and he will come. Or, when he is doing something that he isn't supposed to be doing, I can say, "Exit" and he will stop doing that particular behavior. God heard my voice, and He allowed this precious child to hear my voice too. I know that this is just the beginning too - I can't wait to see how much progress this student will make this year! And here I am, crying all over again! Love, Sarah
PS - I just re-read some comments and people are wanting to know if it is difficult to teach children who don't fully understand English, and for me - yes! Even though the students I teach have a high level of English and are being instructed nearly full-time in English, I still have to consciously speak much slower and use lots of pictures and gestures. I also kind of realized that a lot of their English learning has come via a native Korean speaker, which means my English sounds much different to their ears - so they're not just adjusting to the speed of English they're hearing, they're also adjusting to the sound of English that they're hearing. Anyway, it's quite a challenge, but is also quite rewarding. Like today. I was teaching my after-school class and had read a story with my students - and they were able to tell me exactly what had happened in the story and the order of events, beginning, middle, end, etc. I was so excited that they had been so "into" the story and had followed the story line completely. A wonderful triumph!