In the apartment, the social worker becomes aware of the fact that everything is polished and shining (Line 9). It induces the clear impression that everything is fake and unnatural in a mysterious way. The mother and the two children are all smiling. But smiling abnormally. If the smiles and the atmosphere had seemed more credible perhaps the social worker would have gotten a better impression, but it still does not change the fact that the daughter in question, Shireen, is subnormal. At least in this case it is not the impression of the family that matters so much. No matter how pleasant the family may be it will not change the fact that the child is not mentally capable of attending a normal school. .
As the social worker tries to convince the mother, he learns that the mother is stubborn and that she will not accept that Shireen is subnormal. (Line 49-51: "Mrs Khan said something loud and angry. Her amiable face was twisted with anger. Anxiety and anger had become the air in this small overfilled overclean room, and now the little girl's face was woeful and her lips quivered").
Her reaction is totally normal - it is like a defense mechanism. The family probably immigrated and the mother is trying to keep the family together because they are in an unknown country. But saying that it is conditional on culture would be a lie. If we take a close look at the Pink Floyd song - Mother - we see that overprotection is an issue in our society aswell. Had Sigmund Freud lived 40 more years (to the overripe old age of 123), he would have been delighted to hear such a superb example of his life's psychoanalytic work embodied in the haunting and lingering lyrics of Mother. Or had Oedipus lived a few millennium longer than his fictional death he would have found an adversary in the youthful Pink, a young boy whose desire for maternal acceptance and love is arguably equal to the greatest mother-centered protagonists in the history of literature.
