For what it's worth, playing with- a pencil or tearing up paper may be his way of trying to pay attention. When we had our neuropsychologist evaluation, the recommendation was made that my son squeeze a ball during times that required concentration and attention because he needed to occupy one part of his brain to let another part attend. The act of squeezing the ball was enough to let his brain focus and attend more easily. This really helped him in the classroom. Sometimes behaviors that some find annoying are really done as self preservation.
This particular teacher reported that my son shredded paper while she was teaching and she would try and punish him for it. He would tell me that he wasn't even aware he was doing it (to which she believed he was lying or manipulating). She of course would make him put everything away so that he had nothing to busy his hands (thinking that was a good thing, I'm sure) and then he had almost no ability to attend. I fought for his right to squeeze the darn squishy ball and life improved for him in the classroom (not because of me but rather because he needed to occupy that part of his brain that was meddling in his learning). It's amazing what one has to go through at times...
