My son is similar and also scored noticeably lower on processing speed. I don't know that he's actually faster with the harder problem though. He's just much faster than I would expect given how long the simpler problem takes.
He won't memorize math facts but seems to be picking them up as he uses them. I guess it's okay with me, because he does seem to be making progress.
I was similar in school. I remember in 7th grade when timed tests were a focus, I suddenly thought I was bad at math. By Calculus I was one of the top students in class again though. I just never did well on timed tests. I feel like my kid has such an advantage because I can tell him not to sweat it. I felt so bad about it!
