Nancy Brady honored with ASHA’s highest award
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) has awarded Nancy Brady, Life Span Institute investigator, its highest recognition, the 2025 Honors of the Association.
The award recognizes Brady, past chair of the KU Department of Speech-Language-Hearing, for her contributions to the field. Her research focuses on understanding how pre-speech communication develops, identifying aspects of pre-speech communication directly related to language development, and developing interventions aimed at promoting language by strengthening these foundational skills.
“I’ve been fortunate to pursue a career devoted to learning here at KU, with the support of colleagues, students, the LSI and federal funding agencies," Brady said. “It’s truly humbling to receive such an award and I’m very grateful to my nominators and those who wrote letters on my behalf. Rock Chalk!”
Among many achievements during her career, Brady helped pioneer the creation of the Communication Complexity Scale to assess communication in children with minimal verbal skills. At KU she leads the Communication Success Lab and the Fragile X Lab, which have informed clinical understanding of communication in individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
She is credited with more than 80 peer-reviewed journal articles plus an edited book, numerous book chapters and conference presentations. Her research has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Education and Autism Speaks.
The University of Kansas ranks first in the world in developmental disability research and seventh in speech and hearing according to the data analytics organization ScholarGPS, and KU’s program in speech language pathology is ranked 3rd among public universities, by U.S. News and World Report in 2025.