Juan Pablo Bonet (c. 1573 - 1633) was a Spanish teacher of the deaf, language scholar, a priest, and a soldier and secretary in the Spanish Army. Bonet educated children of the wealthy families (whose literacy was legally required in order to be recognised as heirs). Bonet's method was shining light in his mouth and pronounce words with leather replica of a tongue to help illustrate its movements.
He published his book on deaf education, Reducción de las letras y arte para enseñar a hablar a los mudos ("Summary of the letters and the art of teaching speech to the mute"), in 1620 in Madrid. It consists of four essays and includes description of his methods, the first modern treatise of phonetics and the first documented manual alphabet. Bonet's manual alphabet has influenced many sign languages, such as Spanish Sign Language, French Sign Language, and American Sign Language.