PHOENIX -- Thousands of parents cope with children who have serious behavior problems, but in some cases, surgery might provide a cure.

Six-year-old J.R. is a happy kid, especially when he's hanging out with friends at football practice. But his mood wasn't always so pleasant.

"He would get very angry at the littlest things," said J.R.'s mother, JoLynn. "He has come after me with baseball bats, scissors. He has thrown heavy objects at me, including bricks, and there were times at school when he would punch teachers in the face."

JoLynn said her son has been battling behavioral problems since he was 2 years old, and it didn't seem like there was much doctors could do.

Then JoLynn saw an article linking behavioral problems to sleep disorders. It turns out J.R. had both.

"We really thought we had done everything we were supposed to do as parents to get to the bottom of what he was diagnosed with, and sleep disorder seemed to be the one thing nobody was addressing," JoLynn said.

Dr. David Parry is a pediatric ear, nose and throat specialist in Tucson. He met with J.R. and was convinced he could help him by removing his tonsils.

According to Parry, J.R.'s tonsils and adenoids were enlarged and that affected his sleep.

"It can be as simple as just heavy snoring without any apneic pauses and those kids, if they have large tonsils and you can improve just that much sleep, they have a real benefit," Parry said.

J.R. had a tonsillectomy three weeks ago and his mother is already seeing a difference in his sleep and behavior.

"The edginess has gone away, the anxiety level has dramatically decreased. He's got a much happier demeanor in the classroom and even in the course of the day," JoLynn said. "It's an unbelievable difference."

Doctors recommend parents of children with behavioral problems pay closer attention to their kids' sleep habits. It's possible they may have a sleep disorder that can be cured.

For more information about the link between sleep disorders and behavior problems, click here.