The first initial sound table was created in 1658 by John Amos Comenius in Orbis Pictus, a picture book intended for children.
The Swiss teacher Jürgen Reichen (progressive education) founded this "writing to read" method 1982.
The method combines two basic features of in favour of "phonics" (unduly equated with "direct instruction", stepwise teaching, etc.).
Constructing words in this way is supposed to help them to understand the basic relationship between spoken and written language.
Johann Amos Comenius already added 1658 an initial-sound-table to his „Orbis sensualium pictus“.