The way in which children who have visual impairments construct cognitive maps of their environment is of considerable theoretical
and practical importance. It sheds light on the role of sensory experience in the development of spatial cognition which can in turn
suggest how spatial skills might be nurtured in visually impaired children. In most of the studies reviewed here, groups of children
who lost their sight early in life perform less well on a variety of spatial tasks than sighted children or children who lost their sight
later in life. We will argue that it is not the lack of visual experience in itself which produces this pattern, but rather the effect of lack
of vision on the spatial coding strategies adopted by the children. Finally we will discuss a number of methods for encouraging
visually impaired children to use coding systems which are appropriate for the construction of flexible and integrated cognitive
maps, with particular reference to the use of tactile maps.