What characteristic is typical of children who acquired a visual impairment early in life?

Children who acquire a visual impairment early in life typically exhibit a limited ability to draw on visual memory. This is primarily because visual memory relies heavily on prior visual experiences to form a mental image or recall visual information. When a child's visual impairment occurs at a young age, their exposure to visual stimuli is significantly reduced, impacting their ability to create and retrieve visual memories later in life.

As they grow, these children may develop other cognitive skills, but the absence of rich visual experiences can lead to challenges in tasks that normally benefit from strong visual memory capabilities. This limitation can affect various aspects of their daily life, including learning, navigation, and interaction with their environment, which are often reliant on using visual memory effectively.

The other options mentioned do not accurately reflect the characteristics observed in this population. High levels of visual memory, for instance, are not typical due to the lack of visual experiences. Similarly, excellent spatial skills and improved language development may not necessarily correlate with early visual impairment since these skills can be influenced by a range of factors including compensatory strategies developed over time and the richness of non-visual sensory experiences.