The purpose of this study was to: (1) investigate the use of special education services in grades 1-3 by 48 children who had attended Head Start, (2) to investigate the use of special education services by a matched group of 48 children who were eligible for but had not attended Head Start, and (3) to compare the differences between the two groups in the use of special education services. It was hypothesized that there would be no differences between the two groups. The Iowa City School District provided four types of special education services: speech therapy, remedial reading, psychological services, and classes for the educable mentally retarded. Based on the data collected, children from the Head Start group used more special education services than children from the non-Head Start group. The one exception to this finding was related to use of classes for the educable mentally retarded. The data revealed that only one child of the 48 pairs had been placed in a class for the mentally retarded. Possible reasons for the results of this study are discussed. (Author/CS)