The topic of this paper is the speech-generating devices. The introduction presents and explains assistive technology (its purpose) and augmentative and alternative communication. In the first part of this work the author describes the characteristics of the speech-generating devices, gives examples and explains their purpose and the way they are used. Moreover, in this section he describes software packages and states their advantages. The next part presents the classification of the speech-generating devices. Namely, there are two categories: one is based on the way of assessing messages and the other on the level of technological advancement. The last part of the paper gives a proposal of the architecture of one such device. The device is described, hardware and software configuration are suggested and there is a suggestion on how to do text-to-speech conversion using Arduino. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of the speech-generating devices in the lives of people with speech disorders.