About The Founder

Amanda McNamara Lowe has always loved the challenge of teaching children to read. The culmination of teaching regular education, special education, college, and her own children for 15 years led her to develop a multi-sensory and developmentally appropriate method called Stretch & Catch®.  This multi-sensory approach helps children understand how words work by using their fingers to "see" the spelling patterns within words. Amanda has her bachelor's degree in Elementary Education grades 1-8.  She also earned her master's degree in Curriculum & Instruction with a certification in Moderate-Severe Special Education.  In addition to teaching in elementary schools, Amanda spent over 3 years as an instructor at Cleveland State University.  There she taught undergraduates and graduates in the areas of Phonics Assessment, Phonics Instruction and Literature Based Reading. Amanda has also published two books, Teach Your Child To Read In Less Than 10 Minutes A Day! Stretch & Catch® Words, as well as, Everyday Intervention for Phonemic Awareness.
Amanda created the Stretch & Catch® Reading Center in 2016.  It started as a single office in Bainbridge, Ohio, with one employee.  It has grown into a virtual-only reading center, with thirteen teachers and over 100 sessions per week in multiple states across America.  Stretch & Catch® is a results driven Reading Center using its proprietary method of teaching reading to all students at all reading levels.  Stretch & Catch® has a proven track record of helping children; from students who are gifted to pupils with learning disabilities, dyslexia, autism, selective mutism, severe anxiety, epilepsy, down syndrome, auditory processing disorder and ADHD.  Before starting at Stretch & Catch®, each child is given an initial assessment that determines his/her current instructional reading & spelling levels. This data allows Stretch & Catch® to create a personalized reading plan for each child.    Stretch & Catch® Reading Center specializes in teaching reading at each child’s instructional level from preschool through middle school.  On average, our students move one reading level every five sessions.