Dealing with Behaviour issues in special needs children

As a mother of two special needs children we face challenges every day but lately my seven year daughter has been having some serious meltdowns that are frankly hard to handle. When you have a special needs child, behavior kind of comes with the territory if you know what I mean. Now my daughter hasn't been diagnosed with Autism but she does have some Autistic like features that require extra attention so she doesn't hurt herself. Her tantrums start off as screaming fits that can quickly transition into pulling her hair, scratching herself, banging her head, biting herself and lastly she will use profanity on herself. I can truthfully say that as a parent it is very heartbreaking watching your child hurt themselves and sometimes I feel discouraged because I can't help her. However it is my job to keep her safe so between the doctors, therapists and my husband and I we came up with some strategies. When she starts, either my husband or I will give her a hug from behind and rock her back and forth until she is calm enough to tell us what is bothering her. If that doesn't work I make sure that she has her lanyard with her teething ring on it so she can chew and bite on it instead of herself. Unfortunately those techniques don't always work and we have been forced to throw in the shower. Obviously when in public there isn't showers so we are got a service dog trained to help redirect her behavior. At least with the service dog we dont always have to leave public places. She tends to calm down faster when she is around her dog. The service dog surprisingly enough really helps because she loves to give my daughter kisses. After the kisses she will most of time forget what she is mad about in the first place and start laughing.

Well that is how I deal with my daughters meltdowns and I am interested in hearing how the rest of the parents out there deal with it to. Maybe I can use your techniques as well and make her day a little better.