STRONGSVILLE, Ohio -- Ritalin is often used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). But are drugs really necessary?

According to Thursday's On Your Side health report, a drug-free way to treat ADHD is available in Cleveland.

Moshe Chaim Labinsky, 5, has ADHD, and a few months ago, he was a terror to his parents.

"He would go into temper tantrums," Moshe Chaim's mother, Basya Labinsky, said. "He could be set off by something a normal child would not be set off by."

Basya suspected that food allergies might be the cause of his hyperactivity.

"From very early on, I noticed he had food sensitivities," she said. "So I kept him away from wheat and sugar and milk products right from the start."

She brought Moshe Chaim to the Osteomed Clinic in Strongsville, where Dr. Sherri Tenpenny uses a form of acupuncture to eliminate food allergies. But instead of using needles, she uses an allergen.

Moshe Chaim held a vial of solution to which he's allergic. The allergen produces an electromagnetic charge throughout the body.

"That's what's causing the hyperactivity, and if you can neutralize the effect of what that allergen is doing to the body, then the brainwaves calm down, and that's where the calmness comes into effect," Tenpenny said.

To neutralize the allergen, Tenpenny applies pressure to channels throughout the body, called acupuncture meridians. The pressure clears up the channels and eliminates the allergy.

"You can't think of that in terms of a western medicine perspective," Tenpenny said. "It just doesn't fit like that. You have to understand acupuncture therapy to really get your hands around it."

The treatment won't work for every child, but it worked for Maureen McCarthy's son, Kevin.

"He couldn't concentrate; he was just overloaded," McCarthy said. "His grades started falling."

After the treatment, Kevin's grades went up, and now he's headed to Kent State University.

"It's given Kevin a lease on life," McCarthy said. "It works, and that's all I can say -- it's wonderful."

To learn more about the treatment available at Osteomed, click here.