BONET, JUAN PABLO

born 1560, Torres de Berrellen, Spain died 1620, Torres de Berrellen Spanish cleric and educator who pioneered in the education of the deaf. Bonet developed one of the earliest and most successful methods for educating the deaf and improving both the verbal and the nonverbal communications skills of deaf-mutes. Bonet's multidimensional approach, which he detailed in Reduccin de las letras y arte para ensear a hablar a los mudos (1620; Teaching Mutes to Speak Through the Conquest of Letters and Art), used every technique available. Beginning with the study of written words, Bonet taught the phonetic values of the letters, emphasizing the correct positioning of the lips and tongue needed for clear articulation. He also taught manual signs and a finger alphabet.