Kondekars SCHE model of sensory-cogntive development and it's implications in autism care

🧠 Dr Kondekar’s Sensory-Cognitive Developmental Hierarchical Evolutionary Model

Based on a Modified Piaget Hypothesis With Listening–Verbal Cognition Framework and Autism Integration

A Perspective

🌍 Abstract

Child development reflects progressive integration of sensory processing, emotional regulation, motor organisation, cognition, communication, and social understanding. Traditional developmental frameworks have emphasised sensorimotor progression; however, emerging understanding of neurodevelopment highlights the role of sensory meaning, social engagement, and language in shaping higher cognition.

Dr Kondekar’s Sensory-Cognitive Developmental Hierarchical Evolutionary (SCHE) Model conceptualises development as an evolutionary-like progression from primitive survival regulation toward symbolic verbal cognition and socially responsible human functioning. The model integrates developmental neuroscience, Piagetian theory, language development research, and clinical observation to propose that listening and verbal cognition act as higher-order organisers of human thought.

The framework provides a lens to understand developmental diversity and autism as differences in developmental integration and velocity, guiding therapy toward strengthening foundational processes and promoting meaningful participation in society.

🧬 Core Philosophy

Development is not merely acquisition of skills but progressive integration of neural systems enabling increasingly complex interaction with self, others, and society.

Observable developmental level reflects the highest level of system integration achieved, and absence of progression indicates incomplete consolidation at the current level.

Developmental success is therefore defined by integration rather than isolated milestones.

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🪜 Developmental Integration Principle

When the next developmental level does not emerge, foundational integration required for progression remains incomplete.

Intervention must therefore target integration rather than isolated skill acquisition.

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🪶 Evolutionary Analogy of Development

The animal analogy illustrates functional organisation of behaviour from primitive regulation to complex social intelligence.

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🪱 Earthworm Stage — Survival Regulation

Domains: sensory regulation, arousal stability, reflex behaviour, distress-calm emotional states, physiological bonding.

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🐇 Rabbit Stage — Alert Sensory Awareness

Domains: awareness of caregiver, eye contact, social smile, early emotional differentiation, cooing, early imitation.

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🐈 Cat Stage — Exploration

Domains: object exploration, crawling, pincer grasp, joint attention emerging, stranger anxiety, cause-effect understanding.

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🐕 Dog Stage — Attachment

Domains: affection, anger expression, possessiveness, symbolic beginnings, first words, pointing, safety awareness.

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🐒 Monkey Stage — Social Cognition

Domains: social play, imitation, pretend play, emotional complexity, short sentences, boundary testing.

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🧑 Human Stage — Civilised Symbolic Intelligence

Domains: perspective taking, narrative thinking, conceptual reasoning, empathy, respect, independence, civic awareness.

🧩 Developmental Domains in Chronological Emergence

Sensory regulation → awareness → joint attention → imitation → communication → motor organisation → emotional differentiation → attachment → symbolic understanding → social cognition → narrative thinking → logical reasoning → moral and civic understanding.

📈 Developmental Ceiling Concept

A child’s developmental level represents the ceiling of integrated functioning. Higher abilities cannot stabilise until foundational processes strengthen.

🧠 Shift From Sensory-Motor to Sensory-Cognitive

Traditional frameworks emphasised motor exploration as driver of cognition.

The SCHE model proposes cognition emerges when sensory experience integrates with emotional and social meaning.

Motor provides platform; integration determines trajectory.

🧬 Listening Sense and Verbal Sense as Organisers of Cognition

Listening is sequential, relational, and meaning-bearing, enabling narrative and causality processing.

Verbal cognition integrates sensory experience with emotional and social context, transforming awareness into structured hierarchical thought.

🧠 Verbal Hierarchical Thinking

Supports conceptual abstraction, reflective reasoning, planning, ethical thinking, and organised expression.

🧩 Verbal vs Visual Nonverbal Cognition

Visual cognition excels in spatial processing but may remain present-oriented.

Verbal cognition enables narrative hierarchy, conceptual transfer, and social reasoning.

🎓 Educational Implications

Education should prioritise listening comprehension, conceptual language, narrative reasoning, and reflective thinking alongside functional skills.

🌟 Beyond Survival — Human Development Goals

Development should nurture thoughtful thinkers, conceptual communicators, and socially responsible individuals, not only vocational independence.

🧬 Developmental Velocity in Autism

Autism reflects differences in integration and developmental velocity, leading to uneven domain emergence and plateaued progression without targeted engagement.

🧩 Implications in Autism Care

Autism should be understood as differences in sensory-cognitive integration rather than purely behavioural symptoms.

Care should focus on developmental mapping, strengthening listening engagement, emotional meaning, joint attention, and conceptual language.

Therapy should target integration rather than isolated behaviours, promoting progression toward verbal hierarchical cognition and social participation.

🪜 Autism Severity Integration

DSM-5 levels can be conceptualised as differences in integration across developmental stages, particularly affecting progression toward symbolic verbal cognition.

🚀 Therapy Planning Principle

Identify developmental level → strengthen integration → scaffold next stage.

📚 Case Studies Demonstrating Developmental Diversity

Condensed integrated summaries

Case 1 — Visual strength with limited verbal hierarchy

Strong visual reasoning but limited narrative understanding; therapy focuses on listening and narrative scaffolding.

Case 2 — Fluent speech without emotional integration

Language present but not socially integrated; therapy focuses on emotional meaning and withsocialrigidity

Knowledge without social flexibility; therapy focuses on pragmatic language and emotional awareness.

Case 5 — 

Good social motivation; therapy focuses on expressive language expansion.

Case 6 — Plateau with repetitive behaviour

Limited flexibility; therapy focuses on symbolic play and emotional engagement.

🌍 Clinical Insights From Case Series

Developmental diversity reflects integration patterns rather than potential differences. Listening and verbal engagement predict higher social outcomes. Behaviour reflects developmental organisation.

⚖️ Relationship With Bobath Principles

Motor organisation supports exploration; however, sensory-emotional-verbal integration determines higher cognition.

Motor is platform; integration is driver.

🧠 Controversiy

Debates may arise regarding verbal primacy, hierarchical framing, evolutionary analogy, and conceptualisation of autism as slower integration.

Hierarchy describes complexity, not value.

⚖️ Limitations

Conceptual nature without empirical validation

Metaphorical simplification

Nonlinear development

Cultural variability

Measurement challenges

Verbal superiority debate

Potential misinterpretation of hierarchy

Motor-cognition debate

🔮 Future Directions

Longitudinal research, neuroimaging studies, integration assessment tools, and intervention trials based on level-aligned therapy planning.i

🌟 Strengths

Integrates sensory processing, language cognition, developmental theory, and clinical observation into a unified explanatory framework.

🌱 Long-Term Vision

Nurturing emotionally connected, reflective, socially responsible individuals capable of meaningful participation in society.

🪶 Core Insight

Listening transforms experience into meaning; language transforms meaning into organised thought.

📜 Philosophy Statement

Human development reaches its highest expression when sensory experience evolves into verbal hierarchical cognition enabling reflective thinking and meaningful participation.

🧭 Conclusion

The Kondekar SCHE Model offers an integrative perspective on development as progressive sensory-cognitive integration, expanding traditional theories and providing a conceptual foundation for clinical reasoning and future research

📚 References 

1. Piaget J. The origins of intelligence in children. 1952.

2. Piaget J. The construction of reality in the child. 1954.

3. Vygotsky LS. Mind in society. 1978.

4. Ayres AJ. Sensory integration and the child. 1979.

5. Bundy AC et al. Sensory integration theory and practice. 2002.

6. Bobath B. Adult hemiplegia. 1990.

7. Kolb B, Gibb R. Brain plasticity. 2011.

8. Kuhl PK. Early language acquisition. 2004.

9. Tomasello M. Constructing a language. 2003.

10. APA. DSM-5. 2013.

11. WHO. ICF. 2001.

12. Shonkoff JP. From neurons to neighborhoods. 2000.

13. Siegel DJ. The developing mind. 2012.

14. Dehaene S. Reading in the brain. 2009.

15. Frith U. Autism: explaining the enigma. 2003.

16. Grandin T. Thinking in pictures. 2006.

17. Happé F, Frith U. Weak coherence theory. 2006.

18. Dawson G et al. Social attention in autism. 2012.

19. Mundy P, Sigman M. Joint attention. 2006.